Kunoichi of Tennis
by DaPsionicFox
Summary: Compilation stories about a friend from Ryoma's childhood. Disclaimer: I do not own PoT.
1. Kanna Ayame

**Hey guys, this is my first time writing a fanfic, so I don't know if it's any good. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Kanna Ayame**

 _Crap, I'm going to be late!_ she thought as she glanced at the watch on her left wrist.

A twelve year old girl with a tennis bag on her shoulder was running down the streets of Tokyo. She has just moved here from America and transferred to Seishun Gakuen. Only her first day of school wasn't going so well, as she lost her way around, and the worst thing to happen on your first day is to be late! She glanced at her watch again.

 _Guess I've got no choice…_ she thought grimly to herself.

With one step back, her earlier running speed shot up drastically. She ran like a bullet fired from a gun as she frantically searched for her transfer school. No sooner after that she came across a school building, and she read the plaque on the front of the school gate.

 _This is Seigaku. Phew. I made it on time…_ she sighed in relief.

She plopped her tennis bag onto the ground and took out a can of grape-flavored Ponta, gazing at it, before putting it back into her bag and entering the school. She went through all her classes and headed right for the tennis courts after that. The boys' tennis team was currently having their practice. The girl surveyed the courts and her sights fell on the team's freshman regular.

She knew that his name is Echizen Ryoma. He had joined the regulars a long while ago and was well-known for his tennis play. She watched him intently as he served a tennis ball over the net to another regular, Momoshiro Takeshi.

When the practice was over, she turned around and left before the club members went into the clubroom to change. She went to the school's front gate and waited there. After waiting for fifteen minutes (though to her, she felt like she waited a full sixty minutes), the freshman named Ryoma was coming alone, leaving for the day. She came around the front gate in front of him and he saw her.

"Long time no see, you bastard!" she said playfully.

"Ayame…?" it took Ryoma a moment to recognize her.

"Yep, it's me," she said as she opened her tennis bag and pulled out the Ponta she was looking at earlier. "Here, I bought this as a hello gift!"

"Sankyuu," Ryoma said as he took the Ponta and drank it. "So why're you here in Japan?"

"America was kinda lonely, so I asked my dad if we could move here," she replied. "He said it was okay, and I asked if I could transfer here. I've heard all about your recent accomplishments. Congratulations on becoming a regular, by the way."

"Doumo," was all Ryoma said.

"I moved into a house not too far away from yours," Ayame went on. "Wanna go home together?"

"Fine," Ryoma replied.

They were about to walk past the front gate until Ayame suddenly stopped.

"Wait," she said, growing suspicious.

"What is it?" Ryoma asked.

"I feel like we're being watched…" Ayame looked around, keeping a serious look on her face, as the tension in the air grew heavy.

Then, in one quick motion, she took out a tennis racket and two tennis balls out of her tennis bag, tossed both balls into the air, swung the tennis racket, and hit both balls at the same time. The balls flew past the front gate, and curved around due to the side spin that she put on both balls. Ayame and Ryoma heard the sounds of both balls hitting something, followed by two shrieks of pain. They peeked around the corner and saw a second year and a third year, who had been hit by each ball.

"Senpai…?" Ryoma was confused as to why they were hanging around behind the front gate.

"Who are they?" Ayame asked Ryoma.

"They're my tennis teammates, Kikumaru-senpai and Momo-senpai," Ryoma replied.

Ayame stepped up to them, glaring at them with her ice blue eyes. Kikumaru and Momo backed off, as the "calm" girl suddenly had the presence of someone who was about to commit a murder.

"Why the hell were you spying on us? Answer me, or I'll kill you!" Ayame said in a threatening tone that would've scared off any five year old kids who heard it.

Momo and Kikumaru are both terrified at the girl who had nearly gave them a concussion and is now threatening death, and at the same time wondering how Ryoma was acting so chill at the fact that the girl he was just talking with suddenly went violent.

"Is it because you think that Ryoma's got himself a new girlfriend, and it'd be me?" Ayame demanded while still maintaining her intimidating tone.

She glared hard at the older boys, who were too frightened to speak. Then, almost as quickly as she switched from calm to violent, she started laughing.

"Me? This bastard's girlfriend? Not a chance!" she said through giggles.

"She's just an old friend of mine," Ryoma explained. "Her name is Kanna Ayame."

"I dunno about them, but your senpai-tachi are creepy, Ryoma," Ayame remarked. "Oh well. Let's go."

Ayame and Ryoma walked past Momo and Kikumaru, ignoring the fact that they were still terrified of Ayame and still haven't moved. They went down the streets towards their neighborhood and stopped at Ryoma's house.

"Oh, before you go home, can you do me a favor and kick that damn old man for me?" Ryoma asked.

"Sure thing," Ayame replied.

They went through the front gate where they found Ryoma's father Nanjiroh lying in front of the house lazily, reading one of his porno magazines. Ayame picked up her pace and went up to Nanjiroh and delivered a swift kick to his face, and Ryoma enjoyed the little scene.

"Die, you old pervert!" she shouted as she kicked and glared at him.

Then, almost instantly after she kicked him, her expression looked calm.

"OK, my job is done, I'm going home now. See you tomorrow, Ryoma," she said as she casually walked out of the front gate.

As Ayame walked alone to her house, she knew that her life was going to be exciting once again, with a certain cocky brat for a friend going to the same school as her.

* * *

 **Yeah, Kanna Ayame is a reference to those two Sengoku characters Ayame and Kanna from MapleStory. It's real uncreative, but my style is revolved around other video games I like.  
**


	2. Enter the Kunoichi

**Chapter 2: Enter the Kunoichi**

Ayame set out of her house, glad that there was no school today. She decided to run from one end of the neighborhood to the other, to see how fast she could run. Going to one of the ends, she switched the watch on her wrist into stopwatch mode and prepared herself.

 _Kanna Ayame, you better make it under thirty seconds!_ her thoughts menacingly scolded at her.

She took a deep breath.

 _Ichi… ni… san!_ her thoughts ran as she pushed the button on her watch and she took off.

She sped off so fast that she would've looked invisible to the human's naked eye… unless they had superb eyesight just like her friend Ryoma, then maybe they would've gotten a glimpse of her. She sprinted down the neighborhood while being mindful to avoid passing civilians and the street. The last thing she wanted was to crash into someone and interrupt her running time or to get hit by a car and possibly meet a similar fate her mother did.

In twenty-seven seconds, Ayame had sprinted from one end of the neighborhood to the other.

 _Yessssssssss!_ Ayame was pleased with herself. _My speed is in top condition today!_

Before she had another thought, somebody snatched her tennis bag off her shoulder and sped away. She saw it was a crook on roller skates.

"You bastard… I'll kill you!" she said in a murderous tone as her expression changed to look like as if somebody spilled their coffee on her shirt.

Before the thief analyzed what she had just said, Ayame ran full speed and tripped him. She grabbed her tennis bag and removed the tennis racket inside, and the sunlight glinted over the racket as she raised it.

"Diediediediediedie!" she kept shouting as she hit the thief repeatedly with the tennis racket, swinging it like it was a sword.

Meanwhile, while this was going on, Ryoma had been sleeping peacefully in his room, and he was awakened by the commotion outside. Apparently Ayame had taken it out directly in front of his house, and Ryoma was irritated that his sleep was interrupted. But then he heard Ayame yelling outside while hearing sounds of somebody getting hit, followed by screams of pain.

 _She probably killed somebody for real this time…_ he thought drowsily as he climbed out of bed and decided to see what the heck Ayame was doing outside.

After changing clothes, he went downstairs and went outside. He came upon the scene on time to see Ayame forcing the thief to go down the street while she held her racket behind him.

"One wrong move and you're dead," she warned.

Her glance fell on Ryoma, and she suddenly acted like as though nothing just happened.

"Oh. Hey Ryoma," she greeted.

"Ayame? What happened?" Ryoma asked.

"This dumbass stole my tennis bag and I killed him for it," she replied. "Now he's comin' with me to the police."

Ryoma said nothing but followed her as they went into the town. He was well aware that Ayame has a tendency of going violent when she gets angry, and he could tell that she was really pissed off if she used her racket as a weapon. He remembered one day in America asking her why she always carried her tennis bag, and her response was, "Just in case if I need to see a little bloodshed." (although she has actually never hit anybody hard enough to draw blood). He was already used to her drastic mood swings and her violent acts, which sometimes scared him a little, but at least she never did anything bad to him.

The two arrived at the police station and turned in the thief. They then started walking back to the neighborhood.

"… and then I tripped him and took my tennis bag back," Ayame continued her story.

"And then you killed him," Ryoma finished. "That's what happened. Your attack woke me up."

"Gomen," Ayame said, remembering that Ryoma is the type of person who likes his sleep and wouldn't get up that easily unless you used violence (although Ayame has never went violent on him before). "I didn't think that I'd catch him in front of your house."

The two were silent for a while until Ayame finally spoke.

"Oi," she started. "Know any places to play tennis other than the temple?"

"You could always go to that street tennis place," Ryoma said.

"Where is it?" she asked.

"Follow me," Ryoma said.

Ryoma knew that Ayame could lose her directions if she's not familiar with her surroundings. She had told him that on her first day at Seigaku, she was almost late since she got lost, but thanks to her lightning speed, she was able to find the building on time and not be late.

"The street tennis place has three courts that you could use," Ryoma said as they strolled along the road. "Back then, when there was only one court, you were only able to play doubles."

"So you can play doubles and singles now?" Ayame asked.

"Right," Ryoma answered.

At the mention of "doubles", Ayame realized that she's never played doubles before. As far as she knows, Ryoma has never played doubles either. She heard that it's very different from singles, but she never experienced how different.

"We're here," Ryoma said as they arrived at the bottom of some steps. "If you go up these steps, you'll make it there."

"Thanks, Ryoma," Ayame said.

Ayame went up the steps to check out the "unexplored territory". She looked back to see Ryoma behind her.

"You're coming too?" she asked.

"Sure," was Ryoma's response.

They climbed the steps and saw a couple of tennis players. The first court had some boys playing doubles as well as the second court, but the third court was a singles game. Ayame watched with keen interest at the first two courts.

 _Doubles, huh…_ she thought. _I wonder if I could learn everything about it. It looks pretty hard. But I'll think about that at another time._

Right then, the game in the third court has finished. Ayame saw her chance and got onto the tennis court.

"I'll play you," she said as her expression quickly changed to serious.

She removed the tennis racket from her bag and gripped the racket in her left hand while tossing her tennis bag aside. Ryoma sat at one of the benches, and watched with a smug look on his face as the other tennis players thought that it was a joke that a girl wanted to play.

 _Unfortunately, that "kunoichi" is not someone you should underestimate,_ Ryoma thought.

It was Ayame's serve. She tossed the ball into the air and swung her racket down. The ball sailed over the net at an incredible speed that her opponent couldn't react.

"15-0!" she called as she moved positions.

The other tennis players were stunned. How could she hit a serve that fast?

 _That's not her fastest serve,_ Ryoma thought. _I've seen her hit faster._

Ayame easily won her service game, and she prepared to receive. Her receives were just as quick as her serves.

 _Back in America, she was known as the "kunoichi",_ Ryoma's thoughts went as he watched his old friend play. _Ayame was called that because of her ninja-like movements and the fact that she's Japanese. She's very fast and has good stamina, but… did she overcome her lack of power?_

Ryoma's last question couldn't be answered, as all the tennis players who challenged Ayame didn't hit what he'd call a heavy ball. He knew that even if he asked her, she wouldn't tell him if she overcame her lack of power. She loved to surprise people, and sometimes in the worst way possible.

Ayame gladly challenged anybody who dared to face the wrath of the kunoichi, and remained undefeated. She left with Ryoma to go back home.

"Well, that was fun," she said casually. "I wish there were stronger opponents. None of those lunkheads stood a chance against me."

"Ne," Ryoma said. "You could've played with me."

"Yeah…" Ayame said. "Come to think of it, we've never had a real round before."

"Want to play a match with me right now?"

"Wish I could. I'm already exhausted from playing all those guys back there. Another time, alright?"

"Fine by me."

"Ah, there's your house. Til' next time, Ryoma."

"See you."

* * *

 **Ayame's title of "kunoichi" is an intended reference of the Ayame from PowerStone (then again, there was that one samurai character named Ryoma, so I thought it'd be a little funny to make a small reference to that)**


	3. Ayame's Past

**Chapter 3: Ayame's Past**

"I'm going," Ayame said as she picked up her tennis bag.

She left her house and started running down the streets at her lightning speed. Ayame felt glad that she could run very fast. She would never be late if she could find her way. Also she would have time to stop to do things that a normal person wouldn't.

However, being able to run super fast has its own costs. Ayame stuck her foot out to brake, but she had been running so fast that she braked too late and crashed face-first into the front gate of the Echizen household.

 _Darn it…_ she thought glumly as she recovered from the crash.

She glanced at her watch and thought she might be running out of time. So she took a couple of steps back and started running. She leaped over the front gate to get inside of the yard. Normally she wouldn't do this, but meter's running, so she'll do whatever it takes to get inside.

Ayame charged through the doorway of the open front door as she burst into the house. Before anybody in the house could respond or react, she darted up the stairs and kicked Ryoma's bedroom door open, and as she expected, he was still asleep.

"Ryomaaaaaaaaaa!" she shouted. "You're gonna be late if you don't get up now!"

Ryoma groaned, but didn't wake up. Ayame sighed, and she started digging inside her tennis bag. In one quick motion, she took out a flute case, removed the flute pieces inside, assembled them, and blew a very high note. The high-pitched sound startled Ryoma as he fell off his bed.

"A… Ayame?!" Ryoma was knocked wide awake at the sight of his friend in his room.

"I came here to get you up," Ayame said as she hastily disassembled her flute. "I don't want you to be late for school."

Ayame put away the flute pieces in the case and threw the case back into her tennis bag. Ryoma glanced at his clock.

 _Oh crap!_ he thought as the time registered in him.

"I'm going off now," Ayame said. "See you at school."

Before Ryoma could thank her, Ayame ran out of his room and back outside. She had to jump over the front gate again before running down the streets to school… but not before turning around, jumping back in, delivering a hard kick on Nanjiroh, and running back out. She made it to her first period class way before it started, and kept her mind occupied by sticking her nose into a book.

The classes dragged on for hours, until finally Ayame was able to go down to the tennis courts. Ryoma had told her about the Seigaku team, and she was fascinated and wanted to see how his teammates were like. She heard that sometimes the team could be a little crazy, and she wanted to know what he meant by that.

Ayame arrived at the tennis courts and noticed that she wasn't the only girl there who would be watching the boys. There were two other girls there as well. Ayame said nothing and instead just stood there and watched while supporting the weight of her tennis bag on her right shoulder.

Ayame's tennis bag was, in fact, heavy. Not only is her racket in there, but also a flute case, a couple of tennis balls, and some books. If anybody were to know that her tennis bag had all those items in there, they'd wonder how she would still be able to run so fast with the tennis bag weighing her down… if they didn't know her well.

As the practice dragged on, Ayame learned about each and every single regular member. As of so far, she hadn't seen what Ryoma meant by his team being crazy, but right when she thought that, her suspicions were answered when the third year manager Inui Sadaharu brought out his "Inui Juice".

"What is this Inui Juice?" Ayame asked another freshman who was standing at the sidelines.

"You don't want to know," was the freshman's response.

Given the reaction of the entire tennis club and what the freshman said, Ayame thought that it must be a bad drink. After watching some club members being forced to drink it, she silently wondered if Inui poisoned the drink. She noticed that the only person who liked the drinks is Fuji Syusuke, the tensai of the team.

 _I'm starting to understand what he means by crazy…_ she thought as she watched in stunned silence as the Inui Juice claimed more victims. _I guess the only good thing about this… poison… is that it forces them to work harder…_

Ayame stayed the whole time until practice was over.

"Oi, Echizen, is that your girlfriend from the other day?" Momo asked.

Ayame was about to do a pratfall upon hearing those words. Didn't she say that she was just Ryoma's friend? But she wasn't going to let this slide. She ran up to Momo, lifted her leg, and brought her foot down on his face.

"Die!" she shouted fiercely.

"Momo-senpai, it seems like she really hates you," Ryoma remarked, slightly amused at the sight. "First she hit you with a tennis ball, and now she kicked you."

But Momo's word didn't go unnoticed. Most of the regulars were interested that Ryoma "has a girlfriend", and it resulted in almost all of them getting kicked in the face by Ayame. Ryoma, his captain Tezuka, and Fuji watched while she kicked the rest of the team.

"Is your friend always like that?" Fuji asked Ryoma.

"When she's angry," he responded.

"What's her name?"

"Kanna Ayame."

"She carries around that heavy bag all the time. Does she play tennis?"

"Yeah."

"How long have you two known each other?"

"Seven years."

"I see. A childhood friend."

Finally when things settled down, Ayame had the presence of someone who just satisfied their desire to kill as she walked away from a group of beat up Seigaku regular members. She waited at the front gate until Ryoma showed up… this time with Momo.

"Ah, Ayame!" Ryoma called out to her.

"'Sup, Ryoma?" Ayame greeted. "What're you guys up to?"

"Echizen and I are going out for some burgers," Momo replied.

"Can I go?" Ayame asked.

"Sure," Momo said.

"You'll pay for me and Ryoma, right?" Ayame asked as she tagged along, causing Momo to fall over in shock as he realized that he has to pay for one more person.

The three walked along town to the burger store.

"So, Echizen, tell me how you met Ayame-chan," Momo said.

 _It was seven years ago…_ Ryoma started to recall the event. _Wait, how did I even meet her again?_

"Oh great," an exasperated Ayame groaned as she saw the look on Ryoma's face. "It seems like he forgot. OK, I'll tell the story."

She hesitated to remember the scene.

"We were next-door neighbors in America," she began the story. "But we didn't know each other yet. We met when we were five. I remember going outside of the house and I saw his yard. He was playing tennis with his dad. I watched them, and as they kept rallying, I started to get interested in tennis. I then went home and begged my dad to buy me a tennis racket, which he did so, and then I went over to Ryoma and his dad and begged them to teach me how to play tennis. From that point on, Ryoma's dad taught me how to play tennis. When he wasn't available, I'd play a little with Ryoma. We had a lot of fun together."

Ayame wanted to tell them the whole story, but she had intentionally left out one part. She didn't mention that she had also bonded with Ryoma's older half brother, Ryoga, who was living with Ryoma at the time. She wanted to mention him, but refrained herself from doing so, as she thought that Ryoma might not want to hear.

 _If I mentioned one word about Ryoga, he'd probably start crying again…_ she sadly thought to herself.

"Do you remember all this at least, Ryoma?" Ayame asked.

"Not really," Ryoma answered.

"The other day I saw you," Momo said to Ayame. "Why do you always carry your tennis bag around?"

"Because," Ayame began to answer as her tone became increasingly malicious. "I might need to see a little bloodshed every once in a while…"

Ayame's answer genuinely creeped out Momo, as he already had the thoughts of Ayame secretly being a murderer.

"That's the same answer she gave me when I asked," Ryoma said indifferently. "She attacks people when they make her angry, but she's never hit anybody enough to draw blood."

Momo realized that Ayame is not one of your ordinary stereotypical girls who spends twenty four hours on her cell phone every day. On the contrary, she's very violent and sadistic, probably worse than Fuji, and most likely has the same tennis addiction that Ryoma does.

"How good are you at tennis?" Momo asked Ayame.

"Pretty good," she answered. "I still have lots more to work on, though. As of so far all I can do is dash around the courts and hit shurikens."

"Shurikens?" Momo was confused at what she was getting at.

"Ayame was known as "kunoichi" back in America," Ryoma said. "She moves like one when she plays… and sometimes when she's not playing. Earlier this morning she climbed over my front gate and got inside of my house when she came to get me up."

"Well, you should be at least grateful that I came to get your lazy ass out of bed to make sure you weren't late!" Ayame said scornfully as she glared daggers at Ryoma.

"I'm sorry, what does she mean by hit shurikens?" Momo asked.

"I have no idea," Ryoma said hopelessly as he thought about what Ayame said. "All I know is that she likes ninjas and she tries to imitate one while playing tennis."

The three continued talking as they arrived at the burger store and bought burgers.

"You don't look like an American," Momo remarked to Ayame.

"My parents are both from Japan," Ayame explained. "But I was born in America just like Ryoma."

At the mention of her parents, Ayame stared down at the table with a sad look in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Momo asked.

"Her mother died when she was four," Ryoma said. "Apparently she got caught in a car accident. Ayame was there too, but she survived. She lives with her father now, and he says that she wasn't quite the same after the accident. He told me that she was once a very happy little girl, but after her mother's death, she grew increasingly violent and started having dramatic mood swings."

Despite the fact that she had beaten him up on two occasions already, Momo already began to feel sorry for the girl.

"So why does Ayame-chan play tennis?" Momo asked Ryoma.

"She says that she plays for fun," Ryoma replied with a shrug.

The trio finished their hamburgers and walked home together.

"I'm home!" Ayame called as she stepped through the front door.

There was no answer, which was totally normal to her. Her father's busy after all, and she could take care of herself in the house, no problem.

 _Unless a bear or something breaks in here…_ she thought to herself.


	4. Gemini

**Chapter 4: Gemini**

"Since we've been hanging out every day, I'd probably say that they think we have a relationship," Ayame said to Ryoma one day during lunch break.

Ryoma said nothing to this. Ayame was used to Ryoma giving little or no comments, as that's how he was, and she was fine with that. She picked up her drink and drank from it. Not too long after she held the bottle to her mouth was when Ryoma noticed that something was wrong.

Ayame's eyes had widened when she tasted the drink, and they were glassy. Her entire body went stiff and the bottle in her hand slipped out of her frozen grip. She looked as though she was petrified.

"Ayame…?" Ryoma called her name with uncertainty.

Pretty soon, Ryoma heard shrieks and cries that sounded like people dying. He stood up and looked at the bottle that Ayame dropped. A purple liquid was spilling out of it. Ryoma then looked around to see people collapsed on the ground with similar bottles lying near them.

 _Inui-senpai…_ he realized.

He looked back at the motionless girl sitting in front of him as he sat back down, staring into her empty blue eyes. He thought that she probably couldn't stand Inui Juice either, and wondered how Inui managed to sneak Inui Juice into the cafeteria lines.

 _She's probably going to go kill Inui-senpai once she recovers…_ he thought to himself.

Ryoma continued to eat his lunch, until he heard a gasp in front of him. Ayame had moved and she now has a look like as if somebody strangled her.

"That was the worst thing I've ever tasted in my life," she gasped. "What the hell was that, anyway?"

"That was Inui-senpai's juice," Ryoma answered.

"Nani?! That thing?!" Ayame exclaimed in shock. "It's THAT bad?! Just wait until I get my hands on him…"

Ayame now gave the vibe of an eagle hunting for its prey.

 _I knew it,_ Ryoma thought. _She will hunt for him and kill him._

Ayame waited until before Ryoma's tennis practice. She jumped Inui before he went to change in the clubroom and ended up breaking his glasses.

"What happened to Inui?" the vice-captain named Oishi asked.

"Ayame went and killed him for making her drink his juice during lunch," Ryoma replied.

"Ochibi, you mean your girlfriend went and beat up Inui when she drank his juice?!" Kikumaru cried in shock.

"Don't let her catch you saying that she's my girlfriend…" Ryoma muttered. "And she's not my girlfriend either…"

After Ayame washed her hands after "defeating that mad scientist", she went back down to the tennis courts. Ryoma's sights fell on her.

"Knowing her, she'd probably try to kill Inui-senpai first if he were to force her to drink that weird vegetable juice…" he said.

Ayame watched the practice like she usually did. This time, though, she got to see some practice matches, and saw all kinds of moves she's never seen before.

 _Ryoma's team is crazy like he said, but it's also an interesting team…_ she thought.

Ayame waited until after Ryoma was finished with practice and they walked home together.

"The other day you said all you could do is hit shurikens," Ryoma said to Ayame. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, it's just a move that I learned," she answered. "A dangerous one at that."

"Can you show me it?"

"I don't think I should. I think I should just explain."

"Please do."

"A couple of months before moving here, I saw on television this doubles match held in England. One of the guys was using an interesting move called Gemini, and I tried to learn it myself. It took a few rounds, but I got it down. Gemini is a move where you collect air and use it to create a fluke ball. Now I could use Gemini at an advanced level to shape the fluke balls into shurikens. That's why it's dangerous, because it can cause injuries if the players don't avoid my shuriken balls. So when I use Gemini, I just limit it to just the shape of tennis balls."

"Hmm? Why do you hit them in the form of shurikens, then? Besides wanting to imitate a ninja."

"I think you can figure it out."

"To kill somebody, right?"

"Bingo. Although I've never used it in shuriken form on anybody yet."

"Well if you could use that move in the shape of tennis balls, why don't you show me how it looks like by hitting it in the form of tennis balls instead of shurikens?"

"That's true. Fine, I'll show you. Let's go to the temple."

Ryoma and Ayame walked to the temple where the tennis court is. They were passing by the bell where Nanjiroh was ringing it while reading his porno magazines. Ayame caught sight of this happening and charged at the bell like a bull charging at a red blanket held in front of it. She did a tremendous leap from the ground and landed a jump kick on Nanjiroh.

 _There goes her old habit again…_ Ryoma thought in amusement.

Ayame jumped down from the bell tower and joined Ryoma at the courts.

"There are many ways to use Gemini," she said as she went to one side of the court and Ryoma went to the other. "You could hit the fluke ball right before the real ball. Or you could incorporate the fluke ball into the ball or the racket before hitting them. I'll hit the fluke ball before hitting the real one. But you'll have to serve first. You can't do it in a serve."

Ryoma removed a tennis ball from his pocket and hit a regular serve. Ayame retaliated with Gemini. The fluke ball threw off the timing of Ryoma's racket, which caused him to hit the real tennis ball out.

"Interesting," Ryoma remarked. "Show me that move again."

"With pleasure," Ayame said.

Ryoma served the tennis ball again. Ayame used Gemini, but this time Ryoma let the fluke ball pass the racket before hitting the real ball.

"That's pretty good to have already seen through it!" Ayame called as they kept on rallying. "Want me to throw in another fluke ball?!"

"So you can hit two?!" Ryoma called.

"More than that!" she called back. "At most I can hit six fluke balls!"

Ayame used Gemini again, but this time transferred the air into the ball before returning it. Ryoma prepared himself to return whatever was coming next, but then two fluke balls emerged from the real ball. He had barely avoided them and managed to hit the ball back. Ayame caught the ball with her hand rather than hitting it back with the racket.

"I think you've seen enough for today," she said. "With my weak hand I could only hit up to five balls, but if I used my dominant, then I could pull off six."

"Wait," he said. "Before you go home, can I see you hit them as shurikens?"

"Where should I aim? It can destroy solid objects, you know…"

"Is that so?"

"Hmm… where should I hit them…? Maybe I could use this as a target."

Ayame pulled out a can of cherry-flavored Ponta from her tennis bag (she loves cherry Ponta as much as Ryoma liking grape Ponta). She opened it and started drinking from it.

"I guess this Ponta can will do," she said. "I need you to feed me a ball, though. Just do it off the courts."

Ryoma moved off of the court as Ayame finished the Ponta and placed the empty can on the other side of the court.

"Hitting six of them?" Ryoma asked when he saw that she was holding the racket in her right hand.

"Yeah," she replied. "Ready when you are."

Her left hand was fixed at a grip like as if she was holding a shuriken as it collected air.

"Here I go," Ryoma said.

Ryoma did an underhand serve to Ayame. She transferred the air into her racket and then she hit the ball towards the Ponta can. As the ball sailed over the net, six shuriken-shaped fluke balls emerged out of the tennis ball. When they made contact with the can, it made a horrible scraping noise as the shurikens slashed the can open, and finally the ball hit the can.

"The first time I tried this, I accidentally slashed the fence of a tennis court in America," Ayame said as she picked up the broken can. "I had to skedaddle before anybody else saw that I was responsible. I practiced the move by using soda cans as targets until I perfected it."

She packed her tennis racket away and put her bag on her right shoulder.

"Well, I'm going now," she said as she walked towards the exit.


	5. Ayame and the Middle Schooler

**Chapter 5: Ayame and the Middle Schooler**

Ayame was walking down the town and came across a park. She was walking through it, and she heard a _whoosh_ as something was heading right for her.

"Watch out!" somebody shouted.

Ayame looked to see that it was a soccer ball. She moved out of the way on time and avoided the ball as it bounced off the tree next to her and landed at her feet. She looked to see that a bunch of elementary schoolers were playing with the ball.

"Sorry!" one of them called. "Can you pass that back?!"

"OK!" Ayame called back.

She started dribbling the ball while running back towards the group of kids. However, in her way were two older middle schoolers.

"Gangway!" she shouted as she charged.

Before the middle schoolers realized that there was a first year girl coming at them while dribbling a soccer ball at her feet, Ayame had knocked one of them down and she returned the ball to the younger children.

"Arigatou!" one of them said.

"Oi, you!" the middle schooler that Ayame knocked down called.

He went up to her alongside the other middle schooler he was with.

"You dirtied my clothes! You better pay for them!" he said threateningly to her.

But when he looked up, Ayame was walking away like as if nothing happened.

"It's hot today…" she said in a lazy tone.

"How dare you ignore me!" the middle schooler shouted in anger.

He ran up to her from behind, ready to punch her, but Ayame reacted faster. She did a backwards kick without looking and landed it right in the face. The middle schooler got very angry and kept trying to punch her. She dodged with ease while still maintaining a calm presence around her and kept walking like as if nothing happened.

"I'm not throwing any more kicks, because if I do, you won't beat me," Ayame said. "If you wanna fight, sure, I'll take you on."

Ayame finally stopped walking while still dodging, and she delivered another hard kick on the middle schooler's face. This time she stomped her foot down on his shoes.

"Want me to dirty your shoes this time?" she asked menacingly.

Ayame then started beating up the middle schooler by kicking him repeatedly. The middle schooler had tried to fight back, but with her great reflexes, Ayame avoided the blows. By the time she was done, she walked away with a look of satisfaction while the middle schooler lay on the dirt ground, beat up and filthy.

"Thanks for being my kicking bag for today," Ayame said as she flipped her hair off her shoulders.

She walked out of the park and walked back into town. This time she saw another middle schooler.

"Oi, you," she said. "I've heard about you from Momoshiro-senpai. You're Kamio Akira of Fudomine, right?"

"I am," the boy answered. "That's a Seigaku uniform…"

"Right, I'm from Seigaku," Ayame said. "I heard that you're the fastest runner in Fudomine. Can you beat me in a race?"

"Of course I could!" Kamio said. "Nobody could run faster than me!"

"Oh well," Ayame said, tying back her long hair. "If you could beat me in a race across town, then I'll believe you."

Ayame and Kamio got in a starting position at one end of town.

"Ichi... ni… san!" Ayame shouted, and they both took off.

At first, the two were running at the same speed, but they were still very fast. Ayame wasn't running her fastest, but she was just testing to see how fast Kamio could run.

When they were halfway through the town, Ayame saw something ahead. She stuck her foot out to brake.

"Holy crap, look out!" she shouted.

Kamio didn't get her warning until it was too late. Directly up ahead was a car that was off of the road on the sidewalk, right in the way. He crashed right into the car. Ayame had managed to make a complete stop right in front of the car. The instant she had a close look at the car, she remembered the car accident she was involved in eight years ago. The accident that happened here was very similar to back then.

"Ahhh, looks like we couldn't settle it this time…" she said with a sigh.

Kamio recovered from his crash and got up.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"Kanna Ayame," she answered.

"I can't believe you were able to keep up with me…" Kamio said, staring at the young girl in disbelief.

"But damn…" she swore as she looked at the ruined car in front of them. "One hell of an accident must've happened here. I'm not gonna hang around here any longer. Later."

Ayame ran away as the accident that she saw reminded her of the past, and she didn't want to think about it. Eventually, she ran into a group of middle schoolers.

"That's her!" one of them shouted.

Ayame looked up and saw that it was the same middle schooler that she beat up at the park.

 _Ohhhh shit…_ she thought as she eyed the group.

She turned around and bolted.

"Oi, get back here!" one of the middle schoolers shouted.

"Like hell I would!" she shouted as she kept running.

Ayame could easily outrun them, but she had already used up some of her energy while racing with Kamio, so she couldn't run full speed. She fled to her neighborhood with the middle schoolers still in hot pursuit. She hadn't gone too far inside when she saw directly up ahead of her was Ryoma and Momo, walking together. She skidded to a halt in front of the two boys.

"Oi, gimme that!" she said as she snatched Ryoma's tennis bag off his shoulder.

She threw down her tennis bag, opened it and Ryoma's at the same time, and pulled out a racket from each.

"W-what are you doing, Ayame?!" Ryoma cried in shock.

"I'll save the explanations for later!" Ayame answered as she kicked a few tennis balls from her bag into the air.

Ayame used both rackets to hit the balls and attacked the incoming middle schoolers that were chasing her. She knocked them down with a few blows with the tennis balls, and stopped once all of them were lying on the ground.

"Sorry 'bout that," she said as she put Ryoma's tennis racket back into his bag and handed the bag back. "But that was a life or death situation."

"Why were they chasing you?" Ryoma asked.

"Because I accidentally dirtied one of their clothes earlier when I was at the park," she answered.

"What exactly happened?" Momo asked.

"While I was walking at the park, there were these little kids playing with a soccer ball," Ayame began her story. "One of them almost hit me with the ball by accident, but I avoided it. They asked me to pass it back, but I couldn't kick it back in one go, because I was afraid that I might kick it too hard. So I began to dribble the ball back, but then there were these two middle schoolers in the way. I did tell them to get outta my way, but they didn't move, so one of them fell. And then he got pissed at me because I dirtied his clothes, so he threatened me. I tried to walk away, but the guy wasn't letting it go, so I resorted to beating him up. And much later, he brought a couple of friends so they could beat me up, so I ran away, and… here I am."

 _Although… I'm the one at fault because I knocked down the guy and didn't say "sorry"…_ Ayame thought. _I tried to pretend that I didn't see it happen to hopefully get away with it, but it just caused a lot of trouble for me._

Ryoma stared down at Ayame's victims.

 _With her running around Tokyo, nobody's ever gonna be safe if they go against her,_ he thought. _At least half of the freshmen at school are scared of her already._

Momo was speechless as he looked at the beat up middle schoolers. Even though she's a first year middle schooler, Ayame was capable of taking out a whole group of older middle schoolers targeting her just like that. And given how she handled two rackets at once, she must be an experienced tennis player.

 _Make sure to never cross her, even if you have your friends with you…_ Momo made a mental note to himself while wondering if Ayame was actually very good at tennis.

Ayame looked back at the middle schoolers and knew that if she never knew the Echizen family living next door back in America, she wouldn't be the person she is now.

 _They taught me tennis…_ she thought. _And with that old pervert acting creepy to me all the time, I realized that the best way around it is to kick him. Since I always kicked him every time I went to see Ryoga and Ryoma, I think it helped me with my foot strength. And they were there to help me build my speed and reflexes… that was the main thing that allowed me to get away unharmed… Oh well. I didn't get hurt. That's all that matters._

With no more thought about the incident, Ayame turned to Ryoma and Momo.

"So… where're you two headed off to?" she asked.

"We're going to get some burgers," Momo replied.

"Can I come along?" she asked.

"Fine," Ryoma answered.

"OK, I'll let my dad know," she said.

Ayame walked with Momo and Ryoma as she pulled out a cell phone and called her father.

"Dad? It's Ayame. Listen, I'm going with Ryoma to get some burgers, so I'll be home late… Uh-huh… yeah… Oh, don't worry about that. We're with a senpai who'll pay the burgers for us."

Momo realized that he has another person to pay for… again.


	6. The Two Warriors

**Chapter 6: The Two Warriors**

"Get out of the way, kids!" said a voice nearby.

Ayame looked up to find the source of the voice. She had been walking outside and didn't pay any attention of where she's going, as she was deep in thought. Her thoughts had been interrupted when she heard the voice.

She looked and saw that she was near a tennis court. Three high schoolers were bullying four elementary schoolers. The younger kids looked slightly beat up.

Looking at the scene, it reminded Ayame of when she was a bully victim. She was often bullied for having high marks in elementary school, and it tortured her. Until one day it became a full all-out fight. Ayame kicked the leader out of self-defense, causing the rest of the bullies to try to fight her. She managed to single-handedly beat them up, as her experience with habitually kicking Nanjiroh paid off. When the teachers saw the beat up group, the bullies said that it was Ayame who beat them up. Ayame had managed to flee the scene before any teachers showed up, and since she was one of those "teacher's pet" kind of student, she wasn't suspected. From that day on, she was one of the most respected and most feared person at the school by all the students.

Knowing how it felt to be bullied, Ayame went up to the tennis courts, pulled out her tennis racket and a tennis ball, and served the ball through the open gate. The ball bounced and hit one of the high schoolers in the face.

"Who did that?!" one of the high schoolers demanded.

The three looked and saw Ayame standing at the gate, racket still in hand.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the high schooler that Ayame hit demanded.

"I'm looking for my ball," she said. "I think it landed in here. Can you help me look for it?"

"Well, you hit me with the damn ball!" the high schooler said angrily. "You better apologize or you'll be sorry!"

"You're not the boss of me!" Ayame retorted. "If you're just gonna yell at me, leave me alone!"

"Why, you!" the high schooler got up and was about to punch her.

"I told you to leave me alone!" Ayame said as she thrust her foot up and kicked the high schooler square in the face.

Her kick had given the boy a nosebleed.

"Want to play some tennis?" she asked as she tied her hair back and went to one of the courts.

But then she noticed that she'd be playing two of the older boys.

 _I won't lose to assholes like them!_ she thought furiously as she prepared to play a one-against-two.

"Ne," called a familiar voice. "Playing two against one isn't fair."

Ayame looked up.

"Ryoma!" she called, glad to see her friend.

"I'll back you up, Ayame," he said, pulling out his tennis racket.

"Let's do this!" Ayame said, stripping off her shirt and miniskirt, revealing a pink tank top and some black shorts underneath.

It was Ryoma's serve. Ayame took a glance at him and knew that his signature move was coming. Ryoma served, and the ball bounced at the high schooler's face in similar fashion to how Ayame's ball had bounced earlier.

"Was that the Twist Serve?!" the other high schooler exclaimed in shock.

Ryoma hit all his serves as Twist Serves, and the high schoolers were unable to return any of them. When it was their serve, Ryoma and Ayame were able to hit quick returns. As that round dragged on, Ayame realized that Ryoma wasn't any good at doubles. She knew she wasn't either, as this was her first time playing doubles. She ended up having to pinpoint where the ball would land and checking to make sure that she won't hit Ryoma by accident, and there were some really close moments where she almost ran into him.

Ryoma and Ayame broke serve, and Ayame served this time. She hit a Twist Serve, but instead of bouncing at the face, it bounced in the opposite direction.

 _Ryoma may be able to do a regular Twist Serve,_ she thought, _but I could do a backwards Twist just like Ryoga._

Ayame held serve by hitting Twist Serves forward and backward at random. As they changed courts, Ayame wanted to speak to Ryoma before the next round began.

"Ryoma," she started. "Are you good at net play?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"Given the way how we play right now, we might miss a few balls. First off, I want to get some of the balls, but the problem is that I might run into you. So, for every time the ball is served, do you mind if you play at the net and I play at the baseline? I'll cover any balls that go past you… if they go out of your reach."

"Fine by me."

As the match when on, Ryoma had been playing at the net while Ayame played at the baseline. For every ball Ryoma missed, Ayame covered for him. However, one ball went too far for either freshmen to reach.

"We've got you!" one of the high schoolers shouted.

Ryoma smirked, and suddenly Ayame appeared to teleport from one end of the court to the other and she reached the ball. The high schoolers were too stunned to return it.

"F-fast!" one of them stuttered.

"Ninja Dash," Ayame said.

 _Ninja Dash…_ Ryoma's thoughts ran. _Ayame kicks off the ground and explodes into a dash that's faster than the human eye. Her leg strength allows her to move that quickly since she kept kicking the damn old man her whole life. She can cover the entire court by herself with that move. It does not cause any burden on her legs, so she can use it at ease._

Ayame and Ryoma easily defeated the high schoolers.

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma said.

 _It's been a long while since I've last heard that phrase,_ Ayame thought.

"Damn you brats…" one of the high schoolers cursed.

"If you want to make it physical, I'll gladly do it," Ayame said while giving out her most fierce look that would've killed them if looks could kill.

She raised her racket as if she was using it as a sword to slice. The high schoolers got terrified and ran.

"Now that that's over with…" Ayame said, packing away her racket. "Why're you here, Ryoma?"

"Your dad asked me to deliver something to you," Ryoma answered. "I searched around town for you."

"Sugoi!" one of the elementary schoolers shouted before Ayame could ask Ryoma what he was delivering.

Ayame and Ryoma looked to see the elementary schools looking at them admiringly.

"Sorry, what were you here for?" Ayame asked Ryoma again.

"You forgot your cell phone," Ryoma answered as he dug it out of his tennis bag.

"Oh yeah, I forgot! Arigatou!"

"So what were you doing all the way out here?"

"I was taking a walk. I saw these kids getting bullied. I know how it feels to get bullied so I went to help."

"Hmm?"

"When did you get here? When I finally saw you, you were coming to my defense."

"I arrived here when you hit a Twist Serve at one of those guys. And when you kicked one of them really hard."

"Oh."

"So why were you taking a walk?"

"It's kinda not every day you get to take a walk without worry. America's kinda dangerous for walking alone. Especially if you're still a kid."

Ayame and Ryoma walked out of the tennis courts together. Ayame then saw a vending machine, and she went over to it and bought some cherry Ponta. Ryoma sees this and also buys himself a grape Ponta. The two friends drank the Ponta they bought together.

 _Every time I drink some Ponta with him, it always feels like something is missing,_ Ayame thought. _Back then, Ryoga'd be with us, and the three of us would drink orange juice together… Does he still remember Ryoga? … Probably not. Given that he forgot how we met, it's most likely that he forgot Ryoga…_

"Why are you staring at me?" Ryoma asked.

Ayame snapped back to reality. "Huh? Oh, sorry. It's nothing."

The two went back home together.

"Well, till next time," Ayame said.

"Bye," Ryoma said.


	7. Ryoga, Ryoma, and Ayame

**Chapter 7: Ryoga, Ryoma, and Ayame**

 _"Oiiiiiiiiiii!" a 6-year old Ayame called out._

 _"You're early, Ay-chan!" a boy's voice called back. "Chibisuke hasn't finished helping with chores yet!"_

 _A boy slightly older than her stepped into view._

 _"Oh…" Ayame said. "That's too bad… Guess we gotta wait for Ryoma."_

 _"Ryoga!" a familiar voice called. "I need to talk to you and only you!"_

 _Giving him a knowing look, Ayame stayed where she was. Ryoga disappeared into the Echizen house. She waited patiently, and soon a boy about her age came out of the house._

 _"Oh! Ayame!" the boy called out. "Where's Nii-chan?"_

 _"Your dad's talking with him right now, Ryoma," Ayame replied. "When he's done, we can go play with him!"_

 _Ayame and Ryoma waited until Ryoga came back out. Ryoma was very eager to start playing, but Ayame noticed that Ryoga wasn't very enthusiastic this time around._

 _"Ay-chan… I want to tell you something…" Ryoga said. "Chibisuke, do you mind if you go on ahead? We'll come join you shortly."_

 _Ryoma agreed and ran off._

 _"Ay-chan…" Ryoga started with uncertainty. "Please don't tell Chibisuke about this. And please don't be angry. Dad just told me that I have to move into my aunt's house."_

 _Ayame went numb at his words. She felt a mix of intense emotions._

 _"Nande…?" she said as tears filled her eyes._

 _She slowly stepped up to Ryoga._

 _"NANDE?!" she cried as she slapped Ryoga with all the strength she could muster as tears rolled down her face. "Why do you have to go?! Why are you leaving me and Ryoma?!"_

 _Ryoga, shocked that Ayame went violent on him, stared back up at her. He saw her glaring at him while crying. He knew that she was feeling hurt, shocked, sad, and angry all at the same time. Ayame looked ready to slap him again, but she suddenly hesitated._

 _"I… I…" Ayame stammered as she struggled to get the words out. "I'm sorry…"_

 _She ran away from Ryoga._

"Nande?!" she shouted.

Ayame sat up as she took in her surroundings. She's in her room. She's in Japan. She's not in America. She's not at the Echizen household.

 _I was dreaming…_ she thought as she got out of bed. _Why, Ryoga? Why is your past self haunting me?_

Ayame got dressed and got ready for school. Ever since she came back to Japan, she's been having dreams about the past and found herself screaming when she was waking up.

 _It's because he could only speak Japanese and that I've been seeing Ryoma,_ she thought to herself. _Wish I'm good at forgetting things just like Ryoma. Then I wouldn't have to go through this._

Ayame started running to school. She mentally went down a list of things to do before school.

 _Tennis bag with everything packed in it, check,_ she thought. _Seigaku uniform worn over my sports clothes, check. Dragging Ryoma out of bed, not done yet. Gotta go do that._

She ran down the neighborhood and stopped at the Echizen household. Ryoma's cousin Nanako allowed her into the house, and she immediately started running up the stairs. She kicked Ryoma's bedroom door open.

"Oi, Ryoma!" she hollered at her sleeping friend. "Get up already!"

Her hollering had managed to wake up the family cat Karupin, but it failed on Ryoma.

"Five more minutes…" Ryoma muttered.

"Get up or I'm making you drink Inui Juice whether you like it or not!" Ayame yelled.

At the mention of "Inui Juice", Ryoma's eyes popped open, and he looked startled. He then saw Ayame standing at his doorway.

"Actually, last one to make it to school has to drink Inui Juice!" Ayame shouted as she turned around and bolted down the staircase.

She ran to school and settled for class.

 _Dragging Ryoma out of bed, check,_ her thoughts continued to run. _Get to school on time, check. The notes notebook ready to go, check. At least that thing gives me an opportunity to review what I forgot…_

Ayame takes almost all of the same classes as Ryoma (save for English and tennis). She knows that Ryoma has a notorious habit of sleeping in class, and she had been taking notes in class to give to Ryoma in case if he missed anything. Not that she minded or anything, despite the fact that it makes it look like that Ryoma is making her take notes and he could just sit back and snooze in class. She made high marks in her classes and she wouldn't let her old friend down.

Classes dragged on like they usually did. Lunch break went on just like every school day – Ayame meeting up with Ryoma and eating lunch with him (though sometimes she finds him sleeping on the rooftop). The end of school went like it usually did – Ayame going to the tennis courts to watch the boys' tennis practice.

She arrived at the court. As she watched the balls fly over the nets, she remembered something that Ryoma asked her.

"Ayame," he had said. "Why didn't you join the girls' tennis team?"

"If I did, I'd easily defeat them," Ayame had replied. "The girls' tennis team isn't as serious as boys'. I'll just end up going to tournaments and easily winning all my games. I know I'm not a boy, but ya'll's tennis is very interesting. So, I'd rather be in the sidelines watching you boys play rather than joining the girls' team."

As Ayame watched Ryoma rally on the court, it kept reminding her of Ryoga…

 _"You haven't told Ryoma yet?" Ayame asked._

 _"No," Ryoga replied._

 _Ayame remembered snapping at Ryoga when she found out that he was forced to live at his aunt's. She had felt regretful about her actions and tried not to let her emotions get in her way again._

 _"You can't hide it from him forever," she went on. "Either way, you're gonna have to tell him."_

 _"I know, Ay-chan, I know!" Ryoga said in frustration._

 _"Sorry," she said._

 _The door opened, and Nanjiroh was there._

 _"Ryoga, are you ready?" he asked._

 _"Wait!" he said. "I need to see Chibisuke! Ay-chan, you come too!"_

 _Ayame watched as Ryoga grabbed a marker and started writing on an orange. He eventually went outside with the orange, and she followed him to where Ryoma was._

 _"Chibisuke!" Ryoga said. "I'll have a serious match with you if you can catch this orange!"_

 _Ayame looked at the orange and noticed that Ryoga had written something on it. She wasn't able to read it clearly, but she read something along the lines of "get stronger" and "we'll play each other someday". After glimpsing a bit of the writing, she knew that this was Ryoga's way of saying goodbye._

 _She watched as Ryoga tossed the orange into the sea and Ryoma excitedly jumped in and swam after the orange. She heard the sounds of a car behind her and looked, realizing that it was the escort. Not knowing what to do, she looked at Ryoga, then to Ryoma._

It won't be long before he'll leave us, _she thought._

 _She didn't want to see how Ryoma would react once he found out the truth. Ryoga gave her a sad look. She heard Ryoma exclaim that he caught the orange, as she looked at him. Ryoma immediately noticed that something was wrong as he saw that Ryoga and Ayame looked down. Ryoga then turned around and went to the car._

 _"Nii-chan, why are you getting in that car?!" Ryoma cried in shock._

 _"It's been fun, Chibisuke…" Ryoga said._

 _Ayame stared at Ryoga, trying to take in her last moments with him._

 _"Ay-chan!" he called to her. "Look after Chibisuke for me!"_

 _Even with her unchanging sorrowful look, she nodded at Ryoga. The car drove off. Ayame instantly heard Ryoma's desperate cries of "Nii-chan", which tore at her heart, and she refused to look at Ryoma. Fighting back the tears, she wished that Ryoma would stop shouting. The car disappeared down the road._

 _"Farewell… Ryoga…" she said, not taking her eyes off of where the car disappeared._

 _She was unable to speak anymore, and heard nothing except for the waves and Ryoma's crying._

It was something Ayame couldn't forget, even if she wanted to. She had spent all that time having fun with the Echizen boys, and one of them just went and disappeared.

 _Remembering all this, Ryoma seemed really different than how he was back then,_ she thought.

She hung around the tennis courts and joined Ryoma and Momo for burgers… this time Kikumaru was coming. Ayame wasted no time to point out that Kikumaru had to pay.

They eventually made it to the burger store and settled down at a table. The four conversed as they ate burgers.

"Ayame-chan, how long have you known ochibi?" Kikumaru asked Ayame.

"Seven years," she replied. "We were friends since we were five."

"Tell me what you and ochibi did together!" Kikumaru said.

"Well…" Ayame hesitated, as talking about the past kept reminding her about Ryoga, and she didn't want to think about him. "We played tennis together, stole oranges from the neighbor, and celebrated holidays together…"

At the mention of a few things he did with her, Ryoma couldn't remember anything except for the playing tennis part.

 _Did we really steal oranges together?_ he wondered.

Ayame remembered when she would go with Ryoma and Ryoga to steal oranges from the neighbor. When they were discovered, she would pretend that she fell off the orange tree and acted like as if she broke her leg. While the neighbor was distracted, Ryoma and Ryoga would run off with the oranges, and then when she bought enough time, she escaped by using Ninja Dash (it was her very first move she developed, so she was already able to use it).

"Oi, Kikumaru-senpai," Ayame started. "Ryoma told me that you're an acrobatic player. I think I might want to play you in a match to see if they can match up to my ninja movements."

Kikumaru was confused by what she meant.

"Ayame was known as "kunoichi" back in America," Ryoma explained. "She can move like a ninja."

"She uses that in tennis, right?" Momo asked. "Then who's better? You or her?"

"We never played a serious match," Ayame said. "I don't know if Ryoma's better than me or not. I heard that he's been improving a lot from the time he moved here, so we can't tell for sure."

Even though she said that, Ayame knew that if she were to play a match with Ryoma, she would lose. Ryoma knows that despite the fact that she has great speed to catch up with every ball and the stamina to last her an entire set for it, her only weakness is her lack of power, and it's enough for her to fall.

"Then you should play a match with ochibi to settle it, Ay-chan!" Kikumaru said.

Ayame completely lost it. She stood up from her seat so quickly that she banged her knee under the table.

"Ow!" she exclaimed.

She ran out of the burger store. The other three boys stared in stunned silence.

"What's with her?" Momo asked.

"I don't know," Ryoma said. "She's never acted like that before."

Ayame kept running down the street, trying to fight her emotions about Ryoga. To be called "Ay-chan" after all those years was too painful. She vented her frustration by running.

It was a long while before Ayame stopped. She then turned around and went back, but this time she ran into Kikumaru.

"Ayame-chan!" he said in surprise.

"Kikumaru-senpai…" Ayame said as she recognized him. "I'm sorry about earlier. But please, don't call me "Ay-chan"…"

"Is there a reason?"

"Yeah. A pretty big reason, actually. Just please do me a favor and don't tell Ryoma about what I'm about to say."

"OK!"

"Listen… back then, Ryoma used to have an aniki."

"Ochibi had an aniki?!"

"Well, a half-brother is more like it."

"Did something happen to him?"

"Not really. Well, back then, I used to play with him and Ryoma. Ryoma was really close to him, too. But one day he had to move to his aunt's house. Ryoma took it really hard. His aniki used to call me "Ay-chan". It's just that when you called me that, it reminded me of when he left me and Ryoma, and I didn't wanna deal with it. So please, don't tell Ryoma anything I said and don't call me "Ay-chan" again. Okay?"

"Oh… I get it. OK, I won't tell ochibi anything, and I won't call you "Ay-chan". But what was the name of ochibi's aniki?"

"Echizen Ryoga."

With that, Ayame turned around and headed home, leaving Kikumaru standing there stunned. All along his freshman teammate had an older brother and he never mentioned?

"I doubt he still remembers Ryoga!" Ayame suddenly called back. "If that's the case, then mentioning him might remind him! That's why I don't want you to tell him!"

From then on, it was taboo to call Ayame "Ay-chan"… though Ryoma never found out why.


	8. Kagerou Zutsumi

**Chapter 8: Kagerou Zutsumi**

"Nobody wants to go up against me?" Ayame asked as she looked around.

She had gone back to the street tennis court place that Ryoma showed her and dominated the singles court. By now she was feared by the tennis players who regularly came to the place to play.

"I'll play against you," one tennis player said.

The player served and the game began.

"Watch out!" somebody called to the player. "She's got an incredible dash!"

Ayame used her Ninja Dash to catch up to the ball and scored.

"0-15!"

Ayame had already beaten five tennis players earlier. She had been dashing all over the court to catch up to balls she missed and she wasn't out of breath or sweating.

Her opponent served, but when Ayame tried to return it, her racket was blown out of her hands.

 _Shit!_ she thought.

"15-15!"

The player served another heavy ball, and she couldn't return it.

"30-15!"

"So that's her weakness…" Ayame heard somebody say. "She's not able to return hard balls."

Ayame tried to return the ball with a two-handed return, but the ball hit the net.

"40-15!"

The player served another heavy ball, and Ayame found the racket blown out of her hand again. She couldn't break serve.

 _Damn, if this keeps up, I won't win…_ she thought.

Ayame tossed the ball and hit a backwards Twist Serve. With her repeated usages of Twist Serves, she held serve. The game dragged on, with both players keeping their serve – the player hitting heavy balls to Ayame, and Ayame hitting Twist Serves that her opponent couldn't return... although soon the player was able to return the Twist Serves, which made Ayame resort to hitting six-ball Geminis, revealing her move for the first time in public.

The game went into a tiebreak, with neither side giving in.

"60-60!"

"61-60!"

"61-61!"

Ayame was sweating, but her opponent looked more out of breath than she did.

 _If I could last longer, then I'll win…_ she thought.

The game dragged on with both sides reaching the 150's, until finally the player that Ayame was playing against collapsed. Ayame then won her match.

Lacking the energy to play another set, she packed up her bag. When she went to the steps to leave, she saw a familiar face.

"Fuji-senpai?" she said as she recognized who he was.

"I've been watching your games," Fuji said. "So your current obstacle is your lack of power…"

"Yeah…" Ayame said, pouting. "I have good strength in my legs, but not my arms… I can't seem to get any stronger."

"I think I have something that might help."

"Really?"

"It's very hard to learn, though. Do you still want to try it?"

"Yeah!"

"Follow me."

Ayame followed Fuji, who went to a different tennis court. They were at a tennis court under an el.

"First, I will demonstrate the move to you," Fuji said. "You have to rally with me in order for me to use it."

Ayame took a ball out of her pocket and served. After rallying a bit with Fuji, he showed her the move. Fuji did an overhead swing with both hands. When the ball made contact with the racket, all the spin on it was gone, and it stayed on the racket until Fuji hit it back. Ayame couldn't return the ball, as she thought it was farther than it really was.

"This is my fourth counter that I'm saving for the Nationals," Fuji said. "Kagerou Zutsumi."

"Kagerou Zutsumi?" Ayame repeated quizzically.

"It nullifies all spin on the ball as well as power."

This was exactly Ayame needed to conquer her lack of power.

 _This was why Ryoga always beat me in a tennis match back then…_ Ayame thought glumly. _Just like Ryoma, he knew that my power is weak, so he used that against me… It's because I'm a girl…_

"So," Fuji said. "Do you want to try to learn how to use it, Kanna-chan?"

"Yes, please!" Ayame answered, excited that she will finally overcome her last obstacle.

Hours dragged on. Ayame was unable to hit the Kagerou Zutsumi.

"Let's stop for today," Fuji said as he looked at the time. "We can try again some other time."

"Arigatou gozaimasu…" Ayame said.

Ayame didn't want to wait. She wanted to learn the Kagerou Zutsumi to fill in the huge gap between her and Ryoma. Still remembering exactly how Fuji pulled it off, she went to another tennis court that had a tennis ball machine in it.

Ayame spent her whole afternoon trying to hit at least one Kagerou Zutsumi, but failed to hit even one. She kept trying even when it was close to dusk.

"Ne," a familiar voice called. "How long have you been here?"

Ayame spun around.

"Ryoma?" she recognized the person speaking to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you that," Ryoma said. "Your dad is worried about you. You aren't picking up your phone when he calls you, so he asked me to go look for you."

"Oh, is that so?" Ayame said. "Sorry about that…"

"Don't worry about it. What were you doing here anyway?"

"Self-training."

Ayame didn't want to stop, but she knew this time she had to. She walked with Ryoma back to their neighborhood and parted ways. After Ryoma went home, she dreaded what her father would do to her.

Her father could have the temper of a dragon going berserk, and it scared her more than anything else in the world. She constantly feared that he would lose his temper on her, but it has never happened to her at least.

Ayame arrived home. Her father was a little bit upset at her for not picking up his calls, but he forgave her soon after. Ayame's mind was still on learning Kagerou Zutsumi. She was glad that there was no school the next day, and that means she has more time to try to learn it.

Ayame got up early the next morning and changed into her sports clothes. She then went to the Echizen household and climbed over the gate. She found Nanjiroh lying at the front steps, reading one of his perverted magazines as usual. She ran up to him and delivered a hard kick.

"Old pervert!" she said scornfully, giving him a fierce look that looked a lot like Ryoma's _San Paku Gan_. "I need you to help me!"

"What do you want?" Nanjiroh asked.

"Get a tennis racket and come to the court in the back!" she replied, still keeping her scornful tone.

Ayame went to the tennis court, tied back her long black hair, and waited until Nanjiroh showed up.

"What, you want to play a match with me?" Nanjiroh asked.

"No, I need you to rally with me because I'm tryna learn a new move!" Ayame said.

Ayame and Nanjiroh rallied, with Ayame attempting to hit a Kagerou Zutsumi. Hours dragged on and Ayame finally managed to hit one.

"Yes!" Ayame cheered.

"I see," Nanjiroh said. "You're using that move to conquer your lack of power."

"Well, why do you think I'm trying to learn it?" she said in an annoyed tone. "Hit me some more balls!"

She rallied with Nanjiroh some more until she could hit a Kagerou Zutsumi without fail.

"I'm done," she said.

Ayame started to walk away and left the tennis court. Before she made it to the front gate, a "furry ball" hit her from behind. She managed to regain her balance before she fell, and she looked for the source that hit her.

"Karupin!" she exclaimed in surprise as she looked down at the Himalayan spotted cat.

The cat meowed and looked up at her.

"No, I can't play with you right now," Ayame said, though she was really tempted to do so.

Ayame was well aware that she couldn't resist cute animals… like cats. She tried to fight the urge to play with Karupin, because if she gave in, the next thing she'll know, she's spending more time than usual at the Echizens.

She tried to walk away, but Karupin wouldn't stop following her.

"Please don't…" she begged Karupin.

Karupin refused to give in. She sighed.

"Fine. You win," she said in resignation to the cat.

The last thing she wanted was for a Himalayan spotted cat to go berserk on her just because she didn't feel like playing with it. She went through the front door of the Echizen home with Karupin.

"Hello, Ayame-chan," Nanako greeted her.

"Hello… Nanako-san," Ayame replied. "Next time, tell Karupin to stop following me when he wants to play with me. That terribly clever cat knows that I can't resist him."

Nanako found Ayame's words amusing, even though Ayame was serious about them. Karupin came around carrying a cat's toy in his mouth. Ayame absentmindedly started playing with him while thinking about going back onto the street tennis court place to "wreck" more tennis players.

 _Damned cat's holding me back,_ she thought gloomily.

She noticed that Ryoma wasn't around. Looking at the time, she assumed that he was still sleeping upstairs. She wished that he was already up so he could "keep Karupin busy" while she could "make a break for it" and run to the tennis courts.

It was a while before Karupin stopped bothering Ayame to play with him, but by then, Ayame felt like reading rather than playing tennis. She settled at the dining table and took out a book from her tennis bag to read.

Meanwhile, Ryoma was waking up after sleeping in for so long. He got out of bed and groggily went downstairs to get breakfast. When he got to the kitchen, he saw Ayame sitting at the dining table, reading a book. The sight of her knocked him wide awake. If there was one thing he didn't expect on a school day off, it was Ayame at his house before he even woke up.

"Ayame?!" he exclaimed in surprise.

Unfortunately for Ayame, she was reading a horror story and she was at a bone-chilling part of the book. Ryoma's outburst startled her, as she shrieked in fear, leaped from her seat, and hit her knee under the table. It just so happened that she hit her bruised knee, and she had gotten the bruise when she jumped up and crashed her knee under a table at the burger store while she was with Ryoma, Momo, and Kikumaru. The impact of her knee hitting the table caused her to fall over in pain. Ayame clutched her knee with both hands and started rolling around on the wooden floor.

"Owowowowowowow!" she cried out in agony.

Ryoma stared down at her while wondering if she lost her mind. He knew that she acts eccentric at random times, but this was going a bit too far. As soon as Ayame recovered from the pain, she slowly got up from the floor.

"What the hell, you bastard?!" she shouted at Ryoma as she put on her most fierce and threatening look. "Don't scare the living daylights outta me like that!"

Ayame's sudden mood swing startled Ryoma. He knew that she was really angry at him, since she called him "bastard". Before he could do anything, Ayame had already settled back into the chair and continued reading her book like as if she never hit her knee or yelled at him.

"Ayame, what are you doing in my house?" Ryoma asked her.

"Your cat forced me to stay here," she replied.

"Karupin…?" Ryoma was confused by what she meant.

He looked down at his beloved cat, who was rubbing up against Ayame's legs at her feet.

"He made me stay here and play with him when I wanted to go back to the tennis courts and wreck some tennis players," Ayame explained. "Do me a favor and tell him to not force me to play with him when I'm not in the mood."

Ayame closed her book and packed it into her bag.

"Now that you're finally awake, keep him busy for me," she said. "I'm gonna go to the tennis courts."

Before Ryoma could say anything to her, Ayame had ran out the front door and jumped over the front gate. She ran back to the street tennis courts and went to the nearest singles courts she could find. The tennis players who knew her as "the unbeatable kunoichi" thought that they could finally beat her, now that her weakness has been exploited. Ayame was quick to dispel that illusion as she demonstrated her newly-learned Kagerou Zutsumi and dominated the court once again.

* * *

 **OK, Kagerou Zutsumi doesn't nullify a shot's power, but in the anime it shows that it does. I usually go by the anime.**


	9. Cat on the Loose

**Chapter 9: Cat on the Loose**

"I'm going," Ayame said as she picked up her tennis bag.

She left her house and started running at a normal speed to school. As she passed by the Echizen household, she saw Ryoma coming out of the front gate. He didn't look like his usual self.

"Something wrong, Ryoma?" Ayame asked as she stopped.

"Nothing," he replied.

"I could tell something's concerning you," Ayame said. "You can't fool me."

Ryoma said nothing, but instead ran to school with Ayame. On the way there he finally spoke.

"Karupin's gone," he said.

"Karupin?" Ayame repeated.

"He wasn't in my room this morning," Ryoma went on. "We couldn't find him anywhere in the house."

Ayame knew that this was troubling news. Ryoma loved Karupin dearly, and with Karupin missing, it would weigh Ryoma's mind all day.

 _On the bright side, he won't fall asleep in his classes,_ Ayame thought. _But then again, he'll spend all his classes worrying about Karupin…_

Ayame knew that there was nothing she could do. It was time for school and she can't spend her time turning Tokyo upside down to look for the missing cat. She attended class like she normally did and took notes like she normally did.

Lunch break finally came around. Ayame left the classroom and went to search for Ryoma. Her first assumption was that he was on the school roof, and headed there. As soon as she opened the door, something small, white, and four-legged ran past her.

 _Karupin!_ she realized.

Ayame then chased after the cat down the halls. She struggled to avoid other people while trying not to lose sight of Karupin.

"Wait! Come back!" she called after him.

Ryoma was having his lunch in a classroom with a fellow club member known as Horio Satoshi. He was anxious about Karupin and was eating quickly.

"Karupin, slow down!" Ayame's voice can be heard outside.

At the mention of Karupin, Ryoma stood up from his seat quickly. He looked out the classroom door and saw his cat running by. Ayame then passed by, in hot pursuit of Karupin.

"What's wrong, Echizen?" Horio asked.

Ryoma ran out of the classroom and went in the direction of where Karupin and Ayame went. Ayame was slowly gaining on Karupin, and finally she dived and caught him. Karupin gave her trouble by struggling to get out of her grip, and she held him as she settled down to catch her breath. She looked up as she saw Ryoma coming from around the corner. Karupin jumped out of Ayame's arms into Ryoma's.

"Karupin!" Ryoma said.

"Well, we found the cat," Ayame panted. "But how're you gonna get him back home?"

Ryoma realized that there was no way he could make it back home to drop off Karupin and run back to school.

"Ayame," Ryoma started. "I'm sorry, but can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" Ayame asked.

"I need you to take Karupin and bring him back home," Ryoma answered.

"Why me?"

"You run a lot faster than me. Lunch break ends in ten minutes. Do you think you can make it?"

Ayame hesitated. She wanted to help Ryoma and bring Karupin back home, but feared that she'll be a little late for class.

 _This is a good chance to work out,_ her thoughts told her.

"More than enough time," Ayame finally said.

Ryoma handed Karupin to her.

"I'm counting on you, Ayame," Ryoma said. "I'll pay you back when I can."

Ayame ran out of the school grounds and made her way to her neighborhood. She wasn't running her fastest, as she feared that if she went all-out, she'll lose the energy to run back to school. After a long while of running, she made it to the Echizen home. She climbed over the front gate and left Karupin in front of the house.

"Stay!" she said.

Ayame turned around and jumped over the front gate. She made her way back to school and made it back on time, as the bell rang when she stepped into campus. She looked down at her watch and saw that it took her nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds to complete her task while running back to school. She looked for Ryoma and it didn't take her long to find him. As soon as he saw her, she gave him the thumbs-up.

"Doumo," Ryoma said to her.

"You said you'd pay me back," Ayame said. "And I want it to be Ponta."

"OK," Ryoma said. "I'll give it to you after school."

Ayame knew that she completely missed lunch break, but she at least got a good workout. Classes then resumed like normal, and after she was done with her classes, she went down to the tennis courts as usual. Ten minutes after she started watching the boys' tennis practice, her cell phone in her tennis bag started ringing. She picked up.

"Hello?" she answered. "Oh! Nanako-san! ... What the hell… seriously…? … OK, I'll tell Ryoma when I can… Bye."

Ayame hung up and put away her cell phone. She went into the tennis court.

"Ryuzaki-sensei," she called to the coach. "I need to speak with Ryoma. It's important."

"Alright," the old woman said. "Ryoma! Come here!"

Ryoma stopped in the middle of his practice and came over.

"Ayame would like to speak with you," Ryuzaki said.

"What is it?" Ryoma asked.

"Nanako-san said that Karupin escaped from the house again…" Ayame replied gloomily.

At the mention of his beloved cat disappearing from his house, Ryoma went into shock. Ayame stared at him.

"Don't give me that look like as if you're about to die…" she muttered. "You want me to go look for that troublesome cat?"

Ryoma said nothing, but Ayame turned around and left the tennis court. She started to head for her neighborhood, assuming that she would most likely find Karupin between Ryoma's house and the school.

"Karupin!" she kept calling.

She was about to be within sight range of the neighborhood when she saw a "white, furry ball" streak past her.

"Karupin, come back here!" she hollered after it as she gave chase.

She chased after him and they ended up at the tennis courts in the Seigaku school grounds, where she managed to catch him.

"Ryoma, I found your damned cat!" she called to him, irritated that Karupin has been messing with her all day.

She saw Ryoma's face slowly turning into relief.

"Geez…" she grumbled as she set Karupin on the ground, only to grab him again when she realized he was going to run to Ryoma on the tennis courts. "I swear that cat is doing this on purpose to spite me…"

The club members who have never seen Karupin thought it was a bit "interesting" that Ryoma owns a cat.

"Tell him to sit still for me!" Ayame called crankily to Ryoma as she struggled to keep her hold on Karupin.

"Karupin, stay!" Ryoma called back.

Karupin finally sat still. While the tennis practice went on, Ayame wondered why Karupin left the house again.

 _Ryoma said that he was an intelligent pet, but why did he leave the second time…?_ her thoughts ran. _I don't think Karupin would leave on purpose a second time… But then again, why did he run away the first time?  
_

Practice finally ended, and Ayame still couldn't figure out why. She waited until Ryoma changed and she met up with him outside, where she handed Karupin back to him.

"I told Momo-senpai that I have to get home to bring Karupin back," Ryoma said.

Karupin jumped out of Ryoma's arm and started pawing at his tennis bag.

"Nani?" Ayame said quizzically.

Ryoma was confused as well, and he opened his tennis bag. Karupin stuck his head inside and pulled out a cat's toy. Ayame realized what had been happening.

"That's why…" she said.

Ayame wasn't very happy when she realized the fact. She felt her temper rising.

"It was all YOUR fault, you bastard!" she yelled at Ryoma while looking as if she was going to strangle him. "If you hadn't packed the damn cat's toy I wouldn't have to go through a lot of trouble!"

"Gomen," Ryoma said in a barely audible voice, as he got intimidated by Ayame. "I… I have your Ponta right here."

He took out a cherry-flavored Ponta can.

"Oh yeah, you said you were gonna get me one!" Ayame said cheerfully. "Arigatou!"

They walked back home together, with Ayame drinking her Ponta and Ryoma carrying Karupin with one arm. When she finally got home, she got started on her homework.

 _If that evil cat does something annoying to me one more time, I'll just go tell that bastard to go get a new cat…_ she thought irritably as she stared out the window.


	10. Ryoma vs Ayame

**Chapter 10: Ryoma vs Ayame**

"Ryoma," Ayame said. "We've known each other for seven years, but there's one thing that we don't know."

"What is it?" Ryoma asked.

"Who's better at tennis?"

"It's obviously me."

"Hah, you always talk big, bastard. Do you wanna finally settle it?"

"A match?"

"Yeah. A serious one."

"You always seem to have your hands full with schoolwork, though."

"Yeah… there's that…"

"Then when'll we get to play?"

"Your morning practices have already started, right?"

"Yeah."

"Why don't we play a match before morning practice tomorrow?"

"Fine by me."

It was settled. Ayame and Ryoma were going to finally have a serious match to see who the better tennis player is.

Ayame had gotten up very early the next day and went down to the Seigaku tennis courts. She waited, and Ryoma soon showed up. Without saying a word, they went to a court and decided to self-judge.

"Are you ready to do this?" Ayame asked.

"Hurry up and play," Ryoma said.

Ayame hit a backwards Twist Serve, which Ryoma couldn't return.

"15-0!"

Ayame hit another backwards Twist, but this time Ryoma returned it. They rallied until Ayame hit a four-ball Gemini, which Ryoma couldn't counter.

"30-0!"

Ayame switched to her left and hit a forward Twist Serve, which Ryoma easily returned. She switched back to her right as she returned the ball. Ryoma hit a Drive B, and Ayame couldn't make it on time.

"30-15!"

Ayame hit a regular serve to fake a Twist Serve, and Ryoma fell for it.

"40-15!"

Ayame hit a backwards Twist, and Ryoma returned it. She ran up to the net and returned the ball, but Ryoma retaliated with a Drive A that she avoided, but didn't return.

"40-30!"

Ayame served with a six-ball Gemini, and Ryoma wasn't able to hit the real ball.

"Game won by Ayame! 1-0!"

Ryoma hit a right-handed Twist, and Ayame returned it by switching to her left. He hit a hard ball, and Ayame didn't notice that it was a hard ball until it was too late. Her racket got blown out of her hand.

"15-0!"

Ryoma served a regular ball, and when the ball came back to him, he hit another hard ball. This time, Ayame showed off her Kagerou Zutsumi, surprising Ryoma.

"15-15!"

"When did you learn that?" Ryoma asked.

"Fuji-senpai taught me to help my lack of power," Ayame replied.

"Hmm?" Ryoma said, interested.

He served, and Ayame hit a five-ball Gemini. However, Ryoma waited for the five fluke balls to pass before hitting the real ball. Ayame couldn't react.

"30-15!"

 _That's just like him to figure out how to counter it…_ Ayame thought.

After serving, Ryoma executed a Drive B, but Ayame caught up to it by using her Ninja Dash. Ryoma was unable to position himself on time.

"30-30!"

They rallied again, but this time Ryoma smashed the ball, making it a Twist shot. Ayame avoided the ball, but didn't have enough reaction time to return it.

"40-30!"

Ryoma served and Ayame tried to finish the rally by using her six-ball Gemini, but Ryoma broke through it.

"Game won by Ryoma! 1-1!"

The two friends rallied fiercely and held their serves until it went into a tiebreak. Meanwhile, Tezuka was arriving early for morning practice. When he was coming around the corner, he heard the match in the distance.

 _Who could be playing at his hour?_ he wondered.

His question was answered when he came around the corner of the clubroom and saw Ryoma and Ayame playing their match. Neither side was giving up. Noticing that the current score was 20-20, Tezuka realized that the two freshmen were playing a match, and they had brought it into a tiebreak. Given that they were in a tiebreak, he realized that Ayame was a great tennis player as well, which was something he didn't expect. He remained silent and watched the match.

Ayame and Ryoma still rallied, not knowing that Tezuka was watching. They were fiercely fighting to win, to prove that one was better and the other wasn't. Pretty soon, Fuji showed up.

"Echizen and Kanna are playing a match?" he asked Tezuka.

"Aa," Tezuka replied.

More of the tennis club members were arriving for morning practice, and Ayame and Ryoma still continued, as the score had finally went up to the 110's. They watched in stunned silence, as most of them just realized that Ayame's level of tennis is at least around Ryoma's.

Meanwhile, Ayame sensed that she was on the losing side of stamina, as she had been dashing all over the court. Ryoma had been intentionally forcing her to run around, in hopes that she'll run out of stamina. Finally, she revealed a move that she has been hiding for years.

"No way!" she heard a club member shout. "She's using the Tezuka Zone?!"

 _Tezuka Zone?_ her confused thoughts ran. _Tezuka-senpai could use this move too? That old pervert and I aren't the only ones who can use a Zone? His was called "Samurai Zone" and mine was called "Kunoichi Zone"…_

Ryoma realized that Ayame had learned the Kunoichi Zone while she was training under his father. Despite that, Ryoma resisted, wanting to prove to Ayame that he's the better tennis player.

* * *

"200-...200..."

Ayame and Ryoma collapsed on the ground, apparently having used all their stamina against each other. Seconds passed, but none of them moved. Both freshmen have passed out from exhaustion.

"Geez, those two…" Coach Ryuzaki sighed. "Bring them up to the infirmary!"

* * *

It was a while before Ayame woke up.

 _Where am I…?_ she thought, dazed. _What happened…? I was playing a match with Ryoma, and… did I win? Or did I lose?_

Ayame looked around, realizing that she was in the infirmary room. Lying on a cot across hers is Ryoma, who was still passed out.

 _If he passed out the same time I did, then did we tie…?_ she thought, confused.

Ayame looked around again and saw the time.

 _Crap! I'll be late for first period!_ she thought frantically.

Ayame ran out of the infirmary room and went to her first period.

 _Knowing him, he might end up sleeping in the infirmary for hours,_ she thought as she took out her notebook. _Better make sure to take extra-detailed notes._

When lunch break came, she couldn't find Ryoma. He was still unconscious at the infirmary room. She went and ate lunch alone, until five freshmen approached her. The freshmen were Horio Satoshi, Kato Kachirou, Mizuno Katsuo, Ryuzaki Sakuno, and Osakada Tomoka.

"Is Ryoma-sama alright?!" Tomoka asked, panicked.

"Kanna-san…" Sakuno started. "We heard that you played a match with Ryoma-kun, and…"

"Kanna-san, how's Ryoma-kun?" Kachirou asked Ayame.

"He's still sleeping in the infirmary room," she replied.

"That was quite a match you played with Echizen," Horio said. "You're that good?"

"Why not?" Ayame said. "They didn't call me "kunoichi" for no reason. I thought for sure I could beat that bastard, but I guess we're too evenly matched."

"You're pretty amazing, Kanna-san," Katsuo said. "Did you play with Ryoma-kun a lot back then?"

"Not really," she replied. "Ryoma and I were taught by the same person, but we never really played a serious match up until now."

Ayame looked towards the direction of the infirmary room.

"Ahh, from the looks of it, he might skip out on school," she said. "That bastard sure loves his sleep."

Before she knew it, Ayame was asked to tell stories about her past with Ryoma to the five freshmen, something that she didn't want to do. She wished she found a better place to eat lunch, as her past that she wanted to forget painfully reminded her of Ryoga. Ayame held in her emotions as she told her stories, while being careful to avoid any mention of Ryoga.

However, she didn't last. When she was about to tell a sixth story, she suddenly got up from her seat and ran away.

"Kanna?" Horio said, confused.

"No!" Ayame cried as she ran off. "No, no, no, no! Don't remind me!"

The freshmen stared at the direction she left, confused at her sudden change in behavior. Ayame ran up to the school roof and stayed there to calm down.

 _He left, and you can't change that…_ she thought over and over. _He's gone. Deal with it, Kanna Ayame!_

It took the entire lunch break for Ayame to finally come down from the roof. She went back to class. They went on like normal, and afterward she went to the infirmary room again. Ryoma was still asleep.

 _Geez…_ she thought, exasperated. _He's probably doing it on purpose since he got up so early today…_

Ayame took a deep breath.

"WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUUP!" she shouted, matching the volume of Kawamura's yelling when he held a racket.

Her voice startled Ryoma, as his eyes popped open… and he ended up falling off of the cot onto the floor.

"Ow!" he exclaimed.

"How long do you plan on sleeping?!" Ayame scolded Ryoma. "You've slept through pretty much the whole school day! Now get your lazy ass down to the court and to practice! Go!"

"H-hai…" Ryoma muttered as he got up and left the infirmary.

Ayame followed him and arrived at the tennis courts. Ryoma was forced to run twenty laps around the court for arriving to practice late. The two freshmen were almost immediately fired with questions about their history and their match. Ayame fled from the courts to avoid the questioning. This was just another slap to the face about Ryoga, in her view. The regulars other than Ryoma understood her, as they were the only ones in the group that know about Ryoga. Kikumaru had told them about Ryoga, so they were careful about mentioning the past to Ayame, and that they would not say a word to Ryoma about it.

Ayame did not come back to the courts.

 _If Ryoma and I are evenly tied like that, then I still have lots more to work on…_ she thought, dejected.


	11. The Bear

**Chapter 11: The Bear**

Ayame went down the path to the park. She came around the fountain and saw something that she's seen a couple of times before: a small boy being bullied by some third year middle schoolers. She felt anger rising in her as the little boy got punched. She took out her tennis racket.

"Hey, you!" she shouted as she hurled the tennis racket as hard as she could at the middle schooler who punched the boy.

The tennis racket hit the older boy in the face. Ayame ran over to pick up her racket and proceeded to hit the middle schooler repeatedly with the racket.

"Why don't you go pick on someone your own size!" she shouted as she swung the racket rapidly.

The other boys, seeing that their friend is being beat up by a first year middle schoolgirl, started to attack her. Ayame reacted fast and used her Ninja Dash to move out of the way. She then proceeded to duck, dodge, and kick the other middle schoolers while they couldn't land a hit on her. When the dust cleared, all the third year middle schoolers were laying on the ground, beat up, while Ayame stood over them triumphantly.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, onee-chan!" the younger boy said.

"No problem!" Ayame said, smiling.

She left the park and went on her usual strolls, eventually turning around and heading back to her neighborhood. She stopped by the Echizens for a visit. As soon as she stepped through the front door, she did her usual "kick-the-old-pervert" routine.

"Where's Ryoma?" she asked Nanako after she settled down.

"Ryoma-san is napping in his room," Nanako replied.

Nanako's answer prompted Ayame to do a pratfall.

 _Why the hell is he always sleeping whenever I stop by at his house?_ she wondered.

She went upstairs and found Ryoma asleep on his bed.

 _I hope he won't mind if I do this…_ she thought as she turned on his game console and started playing on it.

Ayame loved video games, as she would sometimes go to Ryoma's house and play video games with him. They sometimes had heated competitions with each other, with both not wanting to lose to their friend. Ayame doesn't own video games at her house, but she learned very quickly when she played at the Echizens.

Ayame started playing games on Ryoma's game console, but she didn't play for five minutes when Ryoma woke up.

"Yo," he said drowsily as he recognized Ayame.

Ayame said nothing, as she was too concentrated into the game to notice that Ryoma was awake. She often concentrated very hard when playing video games, enough to not notice any changes in her surroundings, causing her to be oblivious to little things around her.

As soon as she finished the game, she looked behind her back to notice that Ryoma was awake and sitting on his bed, watching her. Once she saw him, she leaped up in surprise.

"Since when were you awake?!" she cried out.

"When you started round one…" Ryoma answered.

"Damn, I got busted…" she muttered.

"It was okay for you to keep playing…" Ryoma said.

Ayame finished the game.

"Oh, whatever," she suddenly said. "I'm just gonna go for a walk again. See you later, Ryoma."

"See you," said Ryoma.

Ayame left the Echizens and went back towards town again. Ryoma went downstairs and grabbed something to eat. After twenty minutes, the radio playing in the kitchen stopped playing music to bring up news. He stopped to listen. Apparently a wild bear was running loose somewhere in Tokyo, and the officials are still looking for it to catch it. All residents were warned to stay inside.

Ryoma had no plans to go outside. He could always play with Karupin or take another nap. Soon, the phone rang, and Nanako answered it. As she spoke to the person on the other send, she seemed concerned about something.

"That was Kanna-san," Nanako said to Ryoma's mother Rinko when she hung up. "He called to see if Ayame-chan was here, because she's not home. She forgot her cell phone at home, so he has no way of contacting her."

Ryoma overheard the conversation and remembered that Ayame said that she was going for the walk. As his mind recalled that fact, he was slowly filled with horror.

 _She probably doesn't know about the bear…_ he thought. _She must be out there somewhere! I have to go warn her!_

Ryoma knew that Nanako and his parents wouldn't let him out of the house to go look for Ayame, so he snuck outside with his tennis bag. He started running down the neighborhood, and knew that whenever Ayame took a walk, she often passed by the park. He headed there immediately.

Before he could get there, he heard a terrified, piercing scream, followed by a roar. He came around the corner. Backed up against a tree was a middle schoolgirl his age, and staring right at her was a brown bear.

 _Ayame!_ Ryoma recognized her.

Ayame's face was stark white and she was petrified with fear as she stared back up at the bear. She looked ready to faint. Ryoma knew that she was terrified of wild animals, and that if he doesn't do something, she's going to get mauled.

 _I can't let the bear get me either…_ his thoughts reminded him.

The bear roared again, and Ayame screamed. Ryoma knew it was now or never. He took out his tennis racket and executed a Twist Serve. The ball hit the bear in the face.

 _Ryoma!_ Ayame recognized him.

The bear's attention was diverted to Ryoma, as it started heading towards him with murderous intent, giving him a look of hate. Ayame realized that Ryoma was saving her life, and now his life was at stake with the bear coming for him. Fighting her fears, she took out her tennis racket and hit a Twist Serve at the bear to divert its attention back to her.

Ayame had an idea, and she lobbed a tennis ball towards Ryoma, hoping that he was thinking the same thing. With a great leap, Ryoma executed his Cyclone Smash and hit the ball directly at the bear's head, knocking it out. Ayame went over to Ryoma.

"Arigatou…" she said.

"Your dad's worried about you," Ryoma said. "He said you forgot your cell phone at home so he couldn't contact you as soon as he heard that the bear was on the loose."

Ayame hung her head in shame. "I was wondering why the place was deserted…"

Ayame and Ryoma walked back to the neighborhood together.

"I'm real sorry that you snuck out to go look for me," Ayame said.

"Don't worry about it," Ryoma said. "At least you didn't die."

Ryoma followed Ayame to her house, where her father was relieved that she was alive. He thanked Ryoma for rescuing her. Ryoma then walked back home.

"Where have you been, boy?" Nanjiroh asked as soon as Ryoma stepped through the front door.

"Nowhere," Ryoma replied.

Ryoma knew that if he told Nanjiroh that he went to go find Ayame, Nanjiroh would make fun of him about it. Unfortunately for him, Ryoma had to explain to Nanako and Rinko about why he left.

"So you went to go look for your girlfriend?" Nanjiroh asked Ryoma, causing his son to glare daggers at him immediately.

Before Nanjiroh could say anything, suddenly Ayame was there, and she gave him a hard kick in the face.

"Shut the hell up, old pervert!" she shouted.

"Ayame?" Ryoma said, stunned. "Where did you come from?"

"You saved my life," Ayame answered. "I owe you five cans of Ponta."

Ayame handed over five cans of grape-flavored Ponta, which Ryoma happily accepted. He proceeded to open one of them and drink from it, while Ayame continued to kick Nanjiroh repeatedly and yell at him to die.

Meanwhile the officials have found the bear unconscious at the park. They noticed that the bear has suffered a blow to the head, but by what? They puzzled over it for a long while, but they would never find out that it was the work of two first year middle schoolers who have an addiction to tennis.


	12. The Nationals

**OK, now this part is where the storyline continues in the original series. So there won't be much of Ayame playing tennis until after, it's just gonna be her mostly fooling around while still watching the matches.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: The Nationals**

Ayame ran around frantically. The Nationals for the boys' tennis team has already started, and she had come to the second round to watch Seigaku's match against Higa. Ryoma's match had already gone by, and she decided to explore the grounds, only to lose her way around.

 _Crap!_ she thought. _Where the hell was that court again?_

She found herself at another court where another school was playing. She stopped to look around to check where she was.

"Oi, young girl, are you lost?" somebody called to her.

Ayame looked up to see what appeared to be a third year. He had a bandage wrapped around his arm. He was the Shitenhouji captain Shiraishi Kuranosuke.

"Yeah," Ayame replied. "Do you know where the court that Seigaku and Higa are playing on is?"

Before Shiraishi could answer, another third year came up to her. It was Oshitari Kenya, the cousin of Oshitari Yuushi from Hyotei.

"By any chance are you a Seigaku student?" he asked Ayame.

"Yes," she answered.

"Do you know Seigaku's freshman regular?" he went on to ask.

"You mean Echizen Ryoma?" she asked. "Yeah, I know him. He's my best friend."

"Wait, hold up!" Ayame heard one of the Shitenhouji members say. "The super rookie of the East has a girlfriend?!"

Ayame felt great irritation upon hearing that, and she kicked the boy as hard as she could. The boy that she kicked was third year Chitose Senri.

"There's no way in hell I'd be that bastard's girlfriend!" she shouted angrily.

Her sudden, violent attack startled the Shitenhouji members. The second year regular Zaizen Hikaru had managed to take a picture of the attack for his online blogging. Ayame turned to Shiraishi.

"I'm sorry, where's the court that Higa and Seigaku are playing on?" she asked again.

Shiraishi hesitated. He was surprised that the girl talking to him looked like as though she was intending to kill someone for one second, and the next instant she acted like as though she never attacked anybody.

"Oh, it's the court down that way. You shouldn't miss it," Shiraishi finally answered.

"Arigatou gozaimasu!" Ayame said.

She ran at an incredible speed down the way Shiraishi told her to go. The Shitenhouji members stared in stunned silence.

"That was fast," Kenya remarked, paying attention to how fast she could run.

Ayame found the court and the Doubles 2 round was still ongoing.

"Ah, Kanna-san!" Katsuo said as soon as he saw her.

"Where've you been?" Horio asked.

"Walking," Ayame replied. "Oi, Ryoma. There was an Osaka player who wanted to know about you."

"Was there?" Ryoma paid little interest and attention to Ayame's words.

 _Now that I think about it, why did that guy ask me about Ryoma?_ Ayame wondered. _Heh, but then again, he's the super rookie of Seigaku. I shouldn't be surprised if that was the reason._

Ayame didn't realize the reason was that Yuushi had bragged to Kenya about Ryoma, and Kenya wanted to know who Ryoma was. She stopped thinking about it as she watched the Doubles 2 round. So far she didn't like Higa because of their rough play.

Her hatred for them intensified when Higa member Hirakoba Rin aimed for Coach Ryuzaki. Ayame was about to grab her racket and hit a tennis ball to halt the course of the ball, but she was surprised to see Kawamura running up to the ball and hitting it back to the other side of the court. Soon after, the Higa coach Saotome was going to try to physically beat Ryuzaki. Ayame grabbed her racket and served a ball as a warning shot to him at the same time Ryoma and Momo did.

The round continued like normal, but Kawamura and Fuji were still in a tight situation. Right when it seemed like Higa would win the doubles game, Fuji used Kagerou Zutsumi.

"Fourth counter: Kagerou Zutsumi," he said as he executed the move.

"That's…!" Ryoma exclaimed in recognition.

"That's what, Echizen?" Momo asked him.

Ryoma recalled the match he played with Ayame, as she had used Kagerou Zutsumi against him. However, by the time the club members arrived for morning practice, she had stopped using the move, so they were unaware about the fact that Ayame used the move and that Fuji taught her it.

"That's the move that Fuji-senpai taught Ayame!" Ryoma answered.

The other Seigaku regulars stared at Ayame in surprise.

"What?" she asked, noticing the pairs of eyes staring at her. "He taught me it to conquer my lack of power."

Many of the Seigaku members questioned her when Fuji secretly taught her the technique, but she ignored them. She decided to watch the game as Kawamura and Fuji won.

Singles 2 came around, and Ayame was surprised to see Kikumaru playing.

 _Wasn't he meant for only doubles?_ she wondered.

She watched Kikumaru's game against Kai Yuujirou. Halfway through the game, Kikumaru began using his Seal Step to play "one-man doubles". Ayame falls over in shock as soon as she realized that fact.

 _This match is… super weird…_ she thought numbly. _But whoa, maybe something like that could be useful after all..._

Kikumaru barely won the game, and that meant Seigaku has beaten Higa. Doubles 1 began with Inui and Kaidoh as a pair. Ayame watched the match, but immediately decided not to as soon as she realized it was an endurance match (her definition of an endurance match is a long, drawn-out, boring-to-watch match).

 _If it comes to Kaidoh-senpai, he won't lose anyway…_ she thought as she walked away and went to look for a vending machine.

Ayame bought herself a cherry-flavored Ponta and wandered around the grounds. She passed by other schools that were playing and glimpsed some of their matches. By the time she got back to the court that Seigaku and Higa were playing on, it hasn't been three full games yet.

 _At the rate we're going, it'll take all day for this match to end…_ she thought, wandering off again.

Ayame spent the rest of the Doubles 1 round wandering around the grounds, watching other matches, and sitting down to read. She did not come back to the court until Doubles 1 ended, which took over two hours. By then, Singles 1 was beginning. She knew that Tezuka was playing in that game, and wanted to see how good Tezuka is without his arm injury, as Ryoma told her about the time he played against Hyotei's captain Atobe Keigo and lost partly because of his injury (Ayame had asked, "Why didn't he play right-handed if he's a Nitouryuu player like us?").

Tezuka was playing against the Higa captain Kite Eishirou, and Ayame watched as Kite appeared to be dominating Tezuka. It all changed when Tezuka used what the Seigaku regulars thought was Muga no Kyouchi. Ayame learned what Muga no Kyouchi was when Ryoma learned how to use it. She thought that the one Tezuka was using was a bit different.

Other schools that finished their games came over to watch. Ayame recognized them as Rikkaidai Fuzoku, Hyotei Gakuen, and Shitenhouji (although she didn't know the name of the school yet, she just remembered them as the school that helped her find her way back). While the other schools talked about Tezuka, they mentioned that he was using the Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami, and that it was one of the three doors of Muga no Kyouchi.

Ayame became intrigued about the three doors of Muga no Kyouchi as Tezuka then dominated the match. She stuck around as Seigaku discussed the teams that won the second round. Inui told the team that they would be playing against Hyotei in the quarterfinals, which brought dismay to the whole team. At that point, Ryoma got up and left to look at the stadium of where the finals would be held. Ayame followed him.

They entered the stadium and took a look at the court together.

"Hmm… not bad," Ryoma commented.

"What?! No one's playing tennis here?!" Ayame and Ryoma heard someone shout in surprise.

They looked over to the other side of the audience stand to see a red-headed boy their age, Tooyama Kintaro. Ryoma sighed in exasperation.

"Of course no one's playing here!" Ryoma called. "This is where the finals will be played!"

"I didn't know…" Kintaro said. "Then, will you be playing at the Nationals? I'll be playing too! I'm Tooyama Kintaro! Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!"

Kintaro hopped up and down as he spoke.

"That kid's a little…" Ayame remarked.

"Strange," Ryoma finished for her.

"What an unfriendly guy..." Kintaro commented about Ryoma.

Right then, the rest of the Shitenhouji members came up behind Kintaro.

"That's the Osaka people that I ran into earlier…" Ayame said.

The Shitenhouji members then noticed Ayame and Ryoma from the other side.

"Hey, isn't that the lost girl from earlier?" Hitouji Yuuji asked.

"She said she's a Seigaku student and that she's friends with the person that Kenya-kun was talking about," Konjiki Koharu said. "So wouldn't the person next to her be him?"

"Heh… Are you the Osaka representatives?" Ryoma called over.

"Nerves of steel," Kenya remarked.

"You came all the way here to lose," Ryoma continued.

"Extremely cocky," Zaizen remarked.

Ryoma stared back at them.

"He'll stare you down with his _San Paku Gan_ ," Ishida Gin remarked.

"Let's go, Ryoma," Ayame said, turning around.

" _Sure_ ," Ryoma said in English.

"An American guy?!" Kenya exclaimed. "Kin-chan, that's him for sure! The strong player from Kanto!"

By then, Ayame and Ryoma were already leaving.

"Wait, Koshimae!" they heard Kintaro call.

"Who's Koshimae?" Ryoma asked Ayame.

"Beats me," she answered with a shrug.

Ayame and Ryoma joined back up with the team and soon went home together.

"You didn't tell me that you could use the COOL Drive!" Ayame said as they walked.

"It was still incomplete during the time we played our match," Ryoma said. "By the way, how did the Osaka representatives know that you're from Seigaku?"

"One of them asked me. Earlier during the Doubles 2 match, I got lost and I ran into them. When I asked them where to find the courts that Seigaku and Higa were playing on, one of them asked if I was from Seigaku. Then he asked me if I knew you, which I did, but one of the other guys thought that we had a relationship."

"And you kicked him?"

"Yeah."

"I thought so."

 _The next thing that'll happen is that she's gonna be feared in Osaka as well…_ Ryoma thought as he tried to imagine Ayame kicking one of the Shitenhouji players.

The two friends ended up in front of the Echizen house.

"Well, I'll see you during the quarterfinals," Ayame said as she walked down the road towards her house.

Meanwhile, Zaizen had managed to post a blog about Ayame attacking Chitose, much to Chitose's chagrin when he heard from Kenya about it.


	13. The Nationals: Quarterfinals

**Chapter 13: The Nationals: Quarterfinals**

Ayame arrived at the grounds where the Nationals tournament was being held. She wanted to watch Seigaku's match against Hyotei. Ryoma told her that Seigaku faced Hyotei during the Kanto tournament and barely won. According to many of the Seigaku members, Hyotei was strong and quite annoying with their cheering. She made it before Singles 3 began.

Singles 3 had Momo against Yuushi. Soon, Ayame's ears felt like they were bleeding as soon as Hyotei's members started cheering.

 _I'm starting to get why they said they're annoying…_ Ayame thought while covering her ears.

Ayame watched as Momo seemed to dominate Yuushi right from the start, and then Yuushi began to dominate Momo.

"I won't let you score anymore!" Momo shouted as he chased after the ball.

"Oi, look out!" Ayame yelled as she noticed that Momo wasn't paying attention to where he was running.

Momo crashed into the fence pole and started bleeding.

 _That simple-minded idiot…_ Ayame thought as she joined the regulars onto the court to see if Momo was okay.

Momo still played despite the fact he was "bleeding like hell", or so Ayame would put it. It was a close game, but Yuushi won in the end. Doubles 2 began with Inui and Kaidoh against Hiyoshi Wakashi and Mukahi Gakuto. Inui revealed his new move, Waterfall.

 _Didn't think Inui-senpai was capable of hitting fast serves like that,_ Ayame thought as she watched in interest. _I always thought he was good at forcing people to do whatever he wants by threatening them with poison._

After Inui held serve, Ayame noticed that Hyotei was going all-out from the beginning.

 _Ryoma said that Kaidoh-senpai has amazing stamina,_ she thought as she tried to analyze what was going on. _And Kaidoh-senpai proved it during the Higa match by playing in that long as hell game._

She watched as Gakuto returned the balls with his acrobatic play.

"Ayame-chan, your current style revolves around catching the balls and attacking when there's an opening," she remembered Nanjiroh telling her back then. "To catch all the balls, you rely on your speed. If that's the case, you must train your stamina, because if you run too fast for too long, you'll collapse and lose."

Ayame knew that her style is similar to acrobatic players. Since acrobatic players tend to move around a lot to chase after balls, they lose stamina considerably faster.

 _They wouldn't last Kaidoh-senpai in a stamina round, so they must be going for a short match…_ she thought.

She watched Kaidoh hit heavy balls while combining them with Snakes and Boomerang Snakes.

 _Ah! I see!_ she realized. _Kaidoh-senpai is trying to take away their stamina!_

Ayame watched as the seemingly short match was being dominated by Hyotei. At match point, however, their stamina was at their limit. Kaidoh revealed his new move, Tornado Snake.

 _It's over…_ Ayame thought as she turned around and wandered off.

She wandered around and ran into Rikkaidai. She spotted Marui Bunta chewing gum.

 _I've never had gum in my life, maybe he'll let me have some,_ she thought.

Ayame approached Bunta.

"What is it?" Bunta asked her.

"Can I have some gum?" Ayame asked.

"Here," Bunta handed her a pack.

"Arigatou gozaimasu!" Ayame happily accepted the pack.

"Isn't she a Seigaku student?" Niou Masaharu asked when he saw her uniform.

"So what if I am from Seigaku?" Ayame asked.

"Are you spying?" Niou asked.

"No, just bored," Ayame replied. "Oi, nii-chan with the gum. Can I have some more?"

"No," Bunta said. "I think I gave you enough."

"Is that so?" Ayame said. "Zannen."

She walked back to the court where Hyotei and Seigaku were playing on, on time for Singles 2 to begin. It was Tezuka against Kabaji Munehiro.

"Ryoma," Ayame called out to him. "What's that big guy's specialty?"

"He can copy moves by seeing them once," he answered.

 _Someone who could copy moves…_ she thought. _He must really be lacking in creativity then…_

Ayame watched as Kabaji managed to copy Zero-Shiki Drop Shot as well as Tezuka Zone. Tezuka soon used the Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami, and it took a while for Kabaji to be able to copy it.

 _Damn, that huge copycat is good… at copying, that is,_ Ayame thought while the rest of the Seigaku team reacted with shock.

When the score was 5-4, it suddenly started to rain.

 _If all that huge copycat does is just copy other people, then this match is over,_ Ayame thought as she took an umbrella out of her tennis bag.

Tezuka then attempted to return a heavy smash executed by Kabaji.

"Tezuka! That's enough!" Oishi called out, clearly worried about Tezuka injuring his arm again.

"It's no use, Oishi-senpai," Ayame called out. "Even though I don't know Tezuka-senpai that well, I know he's not someone who'd run away from a match. Given that Ryoma told me about his match with Hyotei's captain, he'd even sacrifice his arm if he had to."

She looked up at the pouring rain and wondered whether the tournament would go on. Tezuka then wins his match, and it had been decided that the quarterfinals between Hyotei and Seigaku will be postponed to tomorrow.

* * *

Ayame returned home and opened her tennis bag. She took out five packs of gum that were inside. Meanwhile, Bunta noticed that the packs of gum he had on hand were all gone. He did not realize that Ayame had stolen them from him with her ninja-like movements, which was why he didn't notice.

* * *

The next day, Ayame went back to the Nationals grounds to continue watching Seigaku's match against Hyotei. The Doubles 1 soon began, with Seigaku's Golden Pair against the Silver Pair, Shishido Ryo and Ootori Choutarou. Ayame was told that the Silver Pair was a very tough pair to deal with, and she wanted to see how.

Her questions were soon answered as she watched as the Golden Pair struggled. She was more interested in Choutarou's Neo Scud Serve.

 _Whoa, that's one fast serve,_ Ayame thought. _They said it's even faster than Inui-senpai's Waterfall. I wonder if I can outrun it…_

She then remembered Ryoma telling her that Oishi had injured his wrist rescuing a pregnant woman back in the Kanto tournament, and it had acted up right before the Nationals began. As in result, he didn't play in the second round. From what she heard, he wanted to play after watching Tezuka play, despite the fact that his wrist was still injured.

Ayame watched as the intense game went into a tiebreak. She knew that Oishi was approaching the limit on his wrist. The Golden Pair seemed to be falling apart… until a doubles miracle known as Synchro occurred between the pair. Ayame listened intently as she heard people around her explain what Synchro is. When it seemed like the Golden Pair would even out the score, Kikumaru stopped Oishi from hitting the ball, giving Hyotei the win and surprising the audience as well as the Silver Pair.

Ayame was confused at first, but then the other Seigaku regulars said that Kikumaru had sensed the limit on Oishi's wrist and stopped him.

 _They were next to each other when that happened,_ Ayame thought. _Why didn't Kikumaru-senpai try to hit the ball instead?_

She wanted to bring up her thoughts, but held her tongue as the Singles 1 game was already beginning. Atobe stepped onto the court, and the Hyotei members started chanting.

"The winner will be Hyotei! The loser will be Seigaku! The winner will be Hyotei! The loser will be Seigaku! The winner will be Atobe! The winner will be Atobe! The winner will be—"

The Hyotei members were cut off by somebody snapping their fingers. Ryoma had told Ayame that Atobe would often snap his fingers to silence the crowd like a light switch that was flicked to OFF, and then declare himself to be the winner. To her surprise, it wasn't Atobe who snapped his fingers, but rather it was Ryoma.

"Me," Ryoma said.

Ryoma and Atobe began throwing arrogant remarks to each other, with Ayame catching Ryoma calling Atobe "Mr. Boss Monkey" and Atobe calling himself "king". The two boys then made a bet that whoever loses the game has to shave their head. They then began to laugh indistinctively until they escalated into downright evil laughing. Ayame, shocked at hearing Ryoma doing an evil laugh, jumped in surprise (in her view, she thought she jumped ten feet clear in the air).

 _I've known him for seven years and he never did anything like that,_ Ayame thought. _Did he get possessed by a ghost or what?_

"They're synchronizing…" Inui remarked.

"Are they characters in a gag manga or what?" Momo asked.

The match then began as Ryoma executed a new move, Drive D. Despite that, Atobe was dominating Ryoma, and Ryoma soon activated Muga no Kyouchi.

" _You still have lots more to work on_ ," Ryoma said as the aura started flowing around him.

Ryoma executed a bunch of moves used by other tennis players, but Atobe managed to return them with little effort. Atobe unveiled his new move, Koori no Sekai, where he was able to see Ryoma's dead angles (represented in the form of ice pillars) and aim there.

 _Monkey King could see dead angles?_ Ayame's thoughts ran. _That's even possible?_

Atobe had easily taken three games from Ryoma. Ryoma began feeling the side effects of Muga no Kyouchi.

 _He's already in a hole!_ Ayame thought. _He played too recklessly. And with the Koori no Sekai, it'd be even harder to make a comeback. If only there was a way to counter it, but you can't control—oh! There might be… but I dunno for sure… I'd like to try it myself, but I'm not the one on the court…_

Ryoma continued using the Muga no Kyouchi, but still lost a game. Horio had shouted to Ryoma in panic that he'll end up with a bald head.

"Damn, you made me remember a bad thing," Ryoma said.

Ayame noticed that something was completely off as soon as Ryoma said that. She wasn't the only one who noticed, as the Seigaku members saw too.

"Isn't his mind supposed to be "Mu" when he's using Muga no Kyouchi?" Kaidoh asked.

 _Even though Kaidoh-senpai said that, how could he still be using it?_ Ayame wondered while she noted that the aura was still flowing around Ryoma.

Her question was soon answered.

"Echizen's begun to control the Muga no Kyouchi," Fuji said.

Atobe soon used the Koori no Sekai, and the audience watched as Ryoma closed his eyes, giving Hyotei the false idea that he was giving up.

 _He wouldn't give up,_ Ayame thought. _That bastard's always been a stubborn one, even against me._

Even though she thought that, she was wondering what Ryoma was actually trying to do. She watched as Ryoma opened his eyes, and in a flash, she saw the ball curve towards Ryoma and he returned it. This stunned the Hyotei members, and Atobe was so shocked that he didn't react to return the ball.

 _He thought the same thing!_ Ayame thought excitedly.

"Way to go, Ryoma!" she called out. "That was a well-played Samurai Zone! Even though it's not quite there yet!"

The rest of the Seigaku members turned to Ayame, and then realized that she was referring to what they know as Tezuka Zone.

 _You're in my way again? Tezuka!_ Atobe thought furiously as he continued rallying.

Ryoma continued to use the Samurai Zone to counter Koori no Sekai and began to catch up. Many of the audience thought that he was imitating Tezuka's move, but Tezuka said that Ryoma wasn't imitating his move. Coach Ryuzaki then went on to say that he was actually using the experience that he got from the battles with Nanjiroh.

 _That's the "Samurai" to you_ , Ayame thought as she watched Ryoma bite Atobe with his own move, the Rondo Towards Destruction.

The match continued into a long tiebreak that dragged into sunset.

* * *

"117-117!" the referee announced.

Both players on the court collapsed, reminding Ayame of the time she played a serious match with Ryoma and they had both fainted when the tiebreak score was 200-200.

 _He probably collapsed earlier this time because of Muga no Kyouchi,_ Ayame thought.

Seigaku and Hyotei started yelling at their member on the court to get up.

"The winner will be… Hyotei!" Atobe uttered as he managed to stand up.

To Seigaku's horror, Ryoma didn't move. They were practically begging him to stand up at this point, and started chanting "Echizen!" in Hyotei fashion.

 _Is somebody calling me…?_ Ryoma thought, completely exhausted. _Am I playing a match right now…? … I can't move… Please… let me sleep for a bit longer…_

"Oi, Ryoma!" Ayame's voice rang out in his thoughts. "If you win this match, I'll buy you a Ponta! If you lose, though, I'll kick you with my left leg!"

 _No! I don't wanna lose!_ Ryoma thought fiercely as he reached for his racket. _I don't want Ayame to kick me with her stronger leg! We're going for the top! And she said she'd buy me a Ponta if I won!_

Ryoma grabbed his racket and stood up. "Mada mada… dane!"

 _You've finally stood up, bastard,_ Ayame thought, relieved. _Though I was just kidding when I said I was gonna kick you._

Seigaku cheered at the sight of their young freshman player standing up. Ryoma then hit a Twist Serve while vowing to be Seigaku's pillar of support. Atobe didn't react at all. Ayame noticed that he was unconscious while still standing.

"Atobe," Tezuka said. "You're still going for the top even after you've fainted."

Ryoma silently acknowledged Atobe's skills as he won the game, allowing Seigaku to proceed to the semifinals. Ayame joined the Seigaku regulars as they rushed onto the court to swarm Ryoma. Ryoma pushed his way out of the regulars surrounding him and leaped over the net.

"I'm sorry that you don't have your senses, but…" Ryoma said as he pulled an electric razor out of his pocket.

"Where the hell did you get that?!" Ayame yelled at him. "And why the hell were you carrying that around?!"

The Seigaku and Hyotei regulars were stunned when they realized that Ryoma was showing no mercy and decided to shave Atobe's head while he was still unconscious. Even though she had yelled at him, Ayame watched in excitement as Ryoma put on a devilish look while turning on the razor.

"D-don't!" she heard a Hyotei member shout.

"Y-you demon!" another shouted as Ryoma began shaving Atobe's head.


	14. The Nationals: Semifinals

**Chapter 14: The Nationals: Semifinals**

Ryoma walked to the vending machine and saw Ayame sitting on a bench next to it, drinking from a cherry-flavored Ponta can while reading a book on her lap. She heard his footsteps and looked up.

"Yo," she greeted, and then looked back at the pages.

"Hey," Ryoma greeted back.

Ryoma went over to the vending machine and bought a grape-flavored Ponta. He sat down next to Ayame and started drinking from his Ponta while eyeing the book she was reading.

"How far are you?" Ryoma asked.

"I'm on chapter fourteen," Ayame answered, not taking her eyes off of the book. "I think if I keep up this pace, I can finish reading by… three in the morning."

Near them, Tooyama Kintaro was sleeping in a tree. He woke up, and he accidentally fell off the branch and onto the ground near Ryoma and Ayame's feet. Both Seigaku freshmen looked up and saw the Shitenhouji freshman lying on the ground from falling off the tree.

"Isn't that the strange Osaka kid we saw after the second round?" Ayame asked.

Kintaro got up and spotted them.

"You're Koshimae!" he called to Ryoma.

Before Ryoma could say anything, a man on roller skates stole a woman's purse.

"Ahhhh! Dorobo!" the woman yelled. "Stop him!"

The thief rolled past the three freshmen. Ryoma and Ayame acted as Ayame grabbed her tennis racket, and they both hit a ball. They added side spin to avoid the nearby shrubbery. Their balls hit the thief at the same time a third ball tore through the shrubbery and connected as well. They looked over to see that the third ball was hit by Kintaro.

 _He tore through that?_ Ayame thought as she closed her book and packed it away. _That's a lot of power…_

"I'm Tooyama Kintaro!" Kintaro introduced. "Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!"

 _He's not only a strange kid, but he's really… energetic._ Ayame thought.

She looked over to see an exasperated Ryoma.

 _Ryoma hates noisy people…_ Ayame remembered. _I doubt that he's having the time of his life just listening to him right now._

"Koshimae, you're damn strong, aren't you?" Kintaro asked Ryoma. "Want to play a match?"

"No way," Ryoma immediately said. "Let's go, Ayame."

He already started leaving, and Ayame followed him without hesitation.

"Wait, Koshimae!" Kintaro called. "Let's play a match!"

Kintaro was about to go after the two Seigaku freshmen until someone held him back.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he said to the person, but stopped short when he saw who it was. "Oh, Shiraishi."

"What are you doing?" Shiraishi asked. "It's almost our turn."

"But Shiraishi, look!" Kintaro spoke very fast. "This is the guy that Kenya was talking about with the big body of steel, poison dripping out of his fingers, and three eyes that stare you down! The giant who came back from America!"

At that description, Ayame did a pratfall.

"It's Koshimae!" Kintaro said excitedly.

Ayame saw the displeasure on Ryoma's face about being called a giant with a body of steel with poison dripping out of his fingers and has three eyes.

"Oh, right," Shiraishi said. "Well, to be more accurate, he's the one with the nerves of steel, is extremely cocky, and stares you down with his _San Paku Gan_ ; back from America, Echizen. Right?"

Ryoma sighed. Ayame knew that even though Shiraishi's description was a lot more accurate than Kintaro's, Ryoma was still pretty unhappy being described that way.

"Since I came down to Tokyo, I really wanna fight you!" Kintaro said to Ryoma. "Shiraishi, can we play on a court right now?"

Shiraishi's answer was no, but Kintaro resisted. It all changed when Shiraishi began unwrapping the bandages on his left arm. Kintaro immediately looked terrified as he referred it as a poison. Ayame and Ryoma stared in confusion as Kintaro started rambling about reading a manga about poison and sand. Shiraishi then told Kintaro that if they beat Fudomine, then they could play against Seigaku, which made Kintaro excited as he left.

"It seems like he caused a little uproar," Shiraishi said as he wrapped the bandages back onto his arm.

He looked up to see the two Seigaku freshmen still staring with bemused expressions.

"If I don't make up those lies, that blockhead won't understand," he simply answered.

 _Then that kid is a complete idiot,_ Ayame thought. _He believes in crap like that and he can't even get "Echizen" correct…_

Ryoma joined his fellow Seigaku members to watch Shitenhouji's match against Fudomine. Ayame didn't watch and ended up wandering around the grounds. She came back after Singles 2 ended with Shitenhouji winning all three games. When she came back, she ended up eavesdropping on a conversation between Tezuka and Chitose. She learned about the three doors of Muga no Kyouchi from the conversation.

The semifinals match with Seigaku against Shitenhouji soon began. Singles 3 had Fuji against Shiraishi. Shiraishi managed to defeat Fuji's Triple Counters as well as Kagerou Zutsumi, and began to dominate him. It wasn't long before Shiraishi took five games and Fuji hasn't even won a single game.

 _Is this really Fuji-senpai?_ Ayame wondered. _I thought he was a lot better than that. He was called a tensai, too…_

It became match point when Fuji dived for the ball and missed. He didn't move after that. Ryoma climbed out of the audience stand and got onto the court.

"Play seriously," he said to Fuji.

"Hey, you," the referee said to Ryoma. "Go back to your seat."

Ryoma obediently walked back.

"What are you doing in the middle of the match?!" Momo demanded as he knocked Ryoma on the head.

Ayame avenged Ryoma's head by delivering a hard, left-footed kick on Momo's head.

"Shpow!" she shouted as her foot landed on Momo.

"What was that for, Ayame-chan?!" Momo demanded in irritation.

"Now you're both even," Ayame said, grinning while giving Ryoma the thumbs-up.

Fuji got up and went into what Ayame would call the "serious mode" (Ryoma told her that Fuji's eyes are open whenever he's serious). He began to play completely different than before.

 _He's playing as stubbornly as this one good friend I know,_ Ayame thought while shooting a glance at Ryoma. _Perhaps that "pep talk" encouraged him._

Fuji soon used upgraded versions of his Triple Counters – Houou Gaeshi, Kirin Otoshi, and Hakuryu – and revealed a fifth counter: Hecatoncheires no Monban. With the Hecatoncheires no Monban, Fuji managed to catch up. However, as each game went by, Shiraishi was slowly countering it. Shiraishi managed to counter the technique, and the game was brought into a close tiebreak that he ended up winning.

Ayame stared at Fuji as he rejoined the Seigaku regulars. Ryoma had told her that Fuji has never lost an official singles match before.

 _Must be a pretty big shock for him,_ she thought.

Doubles 2 soon began with Kaidoh and Momo against Koharu and Yuuji. Ayame stared at Shitenhouji's Baka Pair.

 _HOMOSEXUALS!_ her mind screamed.

Ayame then grabbed a book from her tennis bag and held it in front of her face as she flipped it open. She refused to watch the match, and Ryoma noticed.

 _She really hates homosexuals, does she?_ Ryoma thought. _I'll bet that she wished she could beat the crap out of them right now…_

Ayame didn't move the book from her face until the match was over, and by then Momo and Kaidoh won. She closed the book and packed it away as Singles 2 began with Kawamura against Gin. Kawamura had used the Hadoukyuu, but Gin easily returned it. Ayame watched as Kawamura kept hitting Hadoukyuus while endangering his arm, only for his shots to be effortlessly returned.

 _It's over,_ Ayame sighed, grabbing her book again. _Better not watch and see him play a suicide round…_

Though Ayame didn't watch the match, she was soon aware that Gin started retaliating with his Hadoukyuus, blowing Kawamura out of the court. She paid no attention, assuming that Kawamura was "bleeding like hell" and "broken everywhere", and she didn't even want to look.

However, Kawamura unexpectedly hits an incredibly powerful Hadoukyuu, causing Ayame to look up from her book, and the ball broke Gin's strings as well as fracturing his arm. As in result, Kawamura won.

 _Damn, is that what you call lucky?_ Ayame thought as she put away the book.

Doubles 1 began with Tezuka and Inui against Chitose and Zaizen. However, rather it being an actual doubles match, it became a singles match between Tezuka and Chitose.

 _What the hell…?_ Ayame thought. _What did this match even turn into…?_

Chitose activated the Saikikanpatsu no Kiwami and dominated Tezuka with it. However, halfway through the game, Tezuka managed to unlock the Saikikanpatsu no Kiwami and used it against Chitose. With that, Tezuka won the match.

 _Damn…_ a stunned Ayame could only gape at Tezuka. _He unlocked two out of three doors. Then he must be the closest to the third door… Too bad Ryoma didn't play this time._

Ayame joined the Seigaku regulars by the court as they said their goodbyes to Shitenhouji. While they did so, Ayame got onto the court and began doing a self-rally, with her Ninja Dashing from one side of the court to the other, hitting the ball to the other court.

"Echizen's friend could play tennis this well?" Shiraishi asked.

"Oh, right," Oishi said. "Kanna Ayame and Echizen played a match a while back, but it was left at a tie when they both collapsed and fainted."

"She's really fast," Kenya remarked, obviously interested in her being able to run fast enough to do a self-rally.

"Too bad she's a girl," Fuji said. "If she was a guy, she would've been a good addition to the team."

Ayame stopped rallying and noticed the Baka Pair apparently breaking up. Disgusted by them, she went over to beat them up, stunning the Shitenhouji members again and amusing Zaizen.

"Is Kanna always like that?" Chitose asked, still not really getting over the time she attacked him.

"Echizen says that she attacks people who make her angry," Momo replied. "But it seems like she also attacks people who do stupid things."

"Ochibi's got himself a pretty murderous girlfriend," Kikumaru said.

Unfortunately for Kikumaru, Ayame heard what he said, and rounded on him.

"I'm not that bastard's girlfriend!" she shouted as she kicked him repeatedly.

Shitenhouji began to already fear Ayame for her violent acts. Ayame calmed down immediately after she was done kicking Kikumaru, and then Shitenhouji turned around to leave and return to Osaka.

"Wait!" Kintaro interrupted. "What about me? I haven't played Koshimae yet!"

"Kin-chan, we lost," Chitose told the first year regretfully.

"No way!" Kintaro shouted. "I have to have my match with Koshimae now!"

"Echizen, don't play," Oishi said to Ryoma. "You can't afford to get injuries from a meaningless match."

"Uissu," Ryoma said.

"You can wait until next year," Gin said.

"Idiot! A year is too long!" Kintaro kept shouting. "Koshimae! Play me!"

Ryoma only stared back.

"You can't always get what you want in life," Shiraishi said regretfully.

Ayame knew that perfectly well. She had learned it the hard way when she was four.

 _I still remember praying at the funeral…_ she thought sadly. _People always said that if you prayed to God, anything could happen. But nothing happened when I tried. They lied to me…_

"Play him!" somebody called from the audience stand.

Everyone looked up to see an older boy. It was Horio's cousin, Horio Jyunpei. Jyunpei had accompanied Kintaro when he ended up at Shizuoka rather than Tokyo, and they had been acquainted with each other ever since.

"Play him!" Jyunpei went on. "He's really wanted to play you and all the way here from Shizuoka! It's okay if it's one point, right? So please, play him! I beg you!"

"I don't know what's going on, but I'm begging you too, Echizen!" Horio said.

Ryoma looked at Kintaro, then the Horio cousins.

"Fine," he said. "It's okay if it's one point."

 _Ah…_ Ayame thought. _He's going to play after all… but only one point._

Ryoma and Kintaro got onto the court, and Ryoma hit a Twist Serve. Kintaro managed to return it, and they began rallying. Ryoma soon activated Muga no Kyouchi, and Ayame watched as she saw him use other tennis players' moves, including her Ninja Dash and her Gemini.

Forty-five minutes passed, and neither side had scored.

 _This is no good…_ Ayame thought. _Ryoma will lose if he keeps this up._

As Ayame dreaded, Ryoma felt the side effects of Muga no Kyouchi and fell to his knees. Kintaro began to execute his signature move, the Super Ultra Great Delicious Daisharin Yama Arashi. From the audience, Ayame heard Gin warn that it was stronger than his 108th level of Hadoukyuu.

"Kin-chan, that's enough!" Shiraishi shouted.

Ayame knew that Shiraishi wanted Ryoma to avoid getting injured so he could play in the finals, but Kintaro refused to stop. He smashed the ball, and right before the ball landed, Ayame saw a distinct movement from Ryoma before the whole stadium was covered in an explosion of dust.

The dust cleared. The ball was revealed to have split in half, and each half landed on both side of the courts, thus making the one-point match a tie.

"Whaaaaaaat? It's over already?" said a disappointed Kintaro.

"Che…" Ryoma seemed unhappy about not being able to win.

 _Ryoma, you…_ Ayame thought, staring at her childhood friend. _You managed to perfect that…?_

Seigaku and Shitenhouji went their own ways, with Seigaku going out for some yakiniku. Ayame wished she could tag along, but she claimed that she needed to study. Before she left, though, Rikkaidai showed up in front of them. Seigaku invited them to go to yakiniku, but they declined, claiming that they have practice. Ayame left to go home while Seigaku went out for yakiniku.

 _I hope Ryuzaki-sensei is prepared for the bill,_ she thought as she stepped through her front door. _I know a few lunkheads from the group who love to eat._

Ayame had been half right. She had missed out on an eating contest between Seigaku, Shitenhouji, Higa, Rokkaku, and Hyotei. The result was a much higher bill than she had been expecting.


	15. The Nationals: Finals

**Chapter 15: The Nationals: Finals**

The last couple of days for Ayame had been a blur. The Nationals had started days ago, and the finals were drawing close. A day ago she followed Ryoma and Nanjiroh to Karuizawa, where Nanjiroh was teaching Ryoma the Tenimuhou no Kiwami.

All Nanjiroh had done was ask Ryoma if tennis was fun. Ayame and Ryoma didn't understand what Nanjiroh was getting at, but Ayame had thought that there might've been some meaning behind the question. Nanjiroh made Ryoma use a stick as a racket and a pebble as a ball. Ayame did the same, wondering if there was anything important about it.

She couldn't figure it out and stayed with the Echizens overnight out in the wild. Now, she had gotten up extra early and decided to go on a nature hike to take in the beautiful scenery before Nanjiroh could continue… teaching. She didn't wander too far away from their campsite, as they were in the middle of nowhere, and she feared that she'll get lost.

When she turned around to go back, she saw Ryoma standing on a rock in the middle of the river, hitting serves with the pebble and stick. Nanjiroh came out of the tent and noticed as well. Soon after that, a log was coming down the waterfall, about to fall on Ryoma.

"Look out!" Ayame shouted.

"Dad, aim a little to the left side of the cavity!" Ryoma hollered.

Ryoma served a pebble at the same time Nanjiroh did, changing the trajectory of its fall. Ayame felt relieved, but that relief only lasted for a second. As the log fell into the river, the splash of water swept Ryoma into the river.

"Ryoma!" Ayame and Nanjiroh cried at the same time.

Nanjiroh jumped into the river to rescue his son, while Ayame could do nothing except helplessly watch. She knew that she couldn't swim against the current, and had to leave it to Nanjiroh. She ran along the river and soon found Nanjiroh standing in a shallow area, carrying an unconscious Ryoma.

"Geez… how troublesome…" Nanjiroh muttered.

Nanjiroh got back onto land and laid Ryoma on the ground. He took off his robe to let it dry. Ayame was too busy worrying about Ryoma to kick Nanjiroh for taking off his robe. They waited until Ryoma regained consciousness. He sat up and looked at them.

"Um… who are you two?" he asked.

Ayame knew that Ryoma wasn't right in his mind as soon as he said that. It took Nanjiroh a few moments to realize that.

"Ryoma?" Ayame said quizzically, staring into Ryoma's confused, hazel eyes.

"Who's Ryoma?" Ryoma asked.

Ayame felt panic rising in her as one thing registered her mind: Ryoma has amnesia.

"Ryoma! Don't you recognize me?!" she started crying out.

"No…" Ryoma replied blankly.

"Ryoma! It's me, Ayame!" she continued crying out helplessly. "Ryoma! Ryoooooomaaaaaa!"

Ayame's mind had gone into complete shock. It was bad enough with Ryoga gone, but now that the Ryoma she knew was also gone, they were both technically gone from her life. She wanted to cry, but she knew that crying wouldn't solve anything, so she held in her emotions.

Ayame noticed something floating in the river, and it was Ryoma's cap that had fallen off his head when he was swept into the river. She picked it up and stared at it. Soon after that, she heard the sounds of a helicopter overhead. She looked up and the helicopter landed near her and the Echizens. Two middle schoolers came out.

"Momoshiro-senpai! Monkey King!" she said in recognition.

"Stop calling me that!" Atobe shouted at her in annoyance.

"Where's Echizen?" Momo asked her.

"He's right here, but…" Ayame was unable to continue as soon as she saw Ryoma.

"Come on! Let's go!" Momo said.

Ayame obeyed and grabbed Ryoma's arm. She went into the helicopter and brought Ryoma with her.

"What's wrong?" Momo asked Ayame when he saw the sorrow in her eyes.

"Ryoma's…" she started, but couldn't continue.

Momo's question was answered when Ryoma failed to recognize anyone.

"What happened to Echizen?!" Momo demanded to Ayame.

"He fell into the river…" was all Ayame could say, as she feared that mentioning the incident would make her start crying.

While they flew back to the arena, they listened to an ongoing play-by-play of Seigaku's match against Rikkaidai. Currently it was Singles 3 with Tezuka against Rikkai's vice-captain Sanada Genichirou, and Tezuka was losing pretty badly. However, Tezuka soon began to counterattack, but Atobe said that he was going to sacrifice his arm one more time.

 _For God's sake…_ Ayame thought as she remembered Ryoma telling her about the time Tezuka injured his arm and had to go to rehabilitation. _Couldn't he have played right-handed instead of killing his dominant arm just like that? He even played against Ryoma right-handed and beat him…_

It took the entire Singles 3 match for the group to get back to the arena, where Ayame finds that Tezuka lost. She didn't have time to worry about it, as her concern was more on Ryoma than anything else. As she expected, the Seigaku team reacted with horror when they found out about Ryoma's amnesia. They decided to have Ryoma watch the Doubles 2 match and hope that he would regain his lost memories.

Ayame hoped that it would work. She watched the game as it was Inui and Kaidoh against Kirihara Akaya and Yanagi Renji. As the game went on, she noticed that it wasn't working.

Ayame then recalled something that Ryoma said. He had told her that once Kaidoh had amnesia, and they managed to help get his memories back when he played a doubles match against him and Fuji Yuuta while being partnered with Momo. However, after that, they had to deal with Momo losing his memories as well.

 _Watching a match must be very different from playing one…_ Ayame thought as she watched the doubles game in front of her.

She remembered Nanjiroh telling her that he introduced tennis to Ryoma when he was only two.

 _It might be better if I forced him to play a match with me…_ she thought. _If this keeps up, he won't make it by the time Singles 1 begins… There's no other choice._

"Oi, Ryoma!" she called to him. "You're coming with me!"

"Where are you going with Echizen?" Tezuka asked her.

"I'm going to force him down memory lane!" she answered in a fierce tone, determined to bring back the Ryoma she knew.

Ayame dragged Ryoma outside of the arena and to one of the tennis courts nearby. She took out his racket and gave it to him while taking out hers. She forced him to stand at the baseline as she went to the other side. She immediately began serving.

 _I don't care if you're afraid of the balls,_ she thought as she saw Ryoma bracing himself. _I'll keep hitting balls at you until you can at least do a decent rally with me._

Ayame didn't relent as she kept serving. Ryoma, believing that she was going to hit him, braced himself as the balls bounced harmlessly past him. Pretty soon, the other side of the court had balls lying everywhere. Ayame soon stopped.

 _It's not working…?_ she thought hopelessly. _Maybe it might've been better if he was still watching the match after all…_

"Um… can you please teach me?" Ryoma's voice interrupted her thoughts.

She looked up and noticed that Ryoma had gone up to her and asked her to teach him how to play tennis.

 _It just might work!_ she thought, exhilarated.

"OK," she said. "But we'll have to move fast!"

Ayame hit regular serves at Ryoma, and pretty soon he was able to return her serves and keep up a rally with her. Eventually, Ryoma hit a cross court shot, and Ayame caught up to it with her Ninja Dash. Ryoma hesitated as the ball bounced past him.

"Kanna…" he said.

Ayame looked up, realizing that Ryoma acknowledged her by name... but only by her surname. She wanted to feel glad and relieved, but she knew that there's no time to stop and cry.

 _He may only remember my name, but he has to remember everything!_ she thought.

As she went on playing with Ryoma, she demonstrated the moves that she used as well as his moves (Ryoma and Ayame shared their playing styles and are able to pull incomplete versions of each other's moves). Ryoma slowly began to regain his lost memories, and soon managed to remember Ayame. She knew that it wasn't enough, and that he needs to regain his skills at tennis.

Soon, Momo appeared to help. Inui and Kaidoh joined in (Ayame noticed that they were both injured, but she knew that she couldn't stop to ask why), and soon other players that Ryoma faced in the past showed up.

"I leave the rest to you boys," she said as she left the courts.

Ayame wanted to stay with Ryoma, but she wanted to see the status of the matches too, so she decided to go do that first. By the time she got back, Doubles 1 was finishing. Apparently they lost Doubles 2 in a forfeit (Ayame then found out it was because Kirihara injured Inui), won Singles 2, and now they've won Doubles 1.

Singles 1 was about to begin. Ayame noticed that Ryoma wasn't there yet.

 _Shit!_ she thought. _He's not back yet!_

Looking around, she saw the Rikkai captain Yukimura Seiichi. She knew that he was Ryoma's opponent, but he hasn't gotten onto the court yet. She had heard that he has never had a game taken from him.

 _Never had a game taken?_ her thoughts went. _Interesting. I'll test my limits with him!_

She climbed over to the bench where Yukimura was sitting.

"Oi, Rikkai's buchou!" she said. "Wanna play a little until Ryoma gets back?"

Yukimura did nothing for a few moments, but then he stood up and picked up his racket.

"Shall we do it then, Kanna-chan?" he asked.

"Kanna is going to play a match with Yukimura?" Ayame heard voices in the crowd say.

"Hey, isn't that the girl who hangs around with Seigaku's Echizen?"

"Is she really going up against Rikkai's buchou?"

Ayame and Yukimura got onto the court. She hit a regular serve, trying to observe Yukimura's playing style. Yukimura kept returning the balls regularly, and she returned the balls without executing a single move.

 _Does he not have any secret moves?_ she wondered.

However, as the rally went on, she began having a very uncomfortable feeling. Her mind kept thinking that Yukimura was returning her balls like a machine.

 _Forget about it!_ her thoughts scolded her. _Concentrate on the match! Don't worry about anything else!_

She felt the feeling inside her get stronger. She realized that no matter how tough her mind was, she couldn't shake that feeling.

 _There's no other way…_ she thought as she pushed herself.

Ayame continued rallying. Yukimura kept returning the balls.

 _What is she?_ Yukimura thought. _She should've succumbed by now… even now, how is she still playing normally?_

Finally, Ayame hit the ball and it hit the net. Yukimura thought that he scored, but then the ball spun along the net and landed on his side of the court.

 _Damn, even for one point, this was still intense…_ Ayame thought.

She looked up and saw Ryoma standing in the sidelines.

"It's about time you came back, bastard!" she called out to him as she stepped off of the court.

Ryoma got onto the court and the Singles 1 match began. Ayame, who had just experienced Yukimura's playing style, knew that Yukimura was one fearsome opponent.

As she watched Ryoma's matched, she noticed in stunned silence as he unlocked the Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami and the Saikikanpatsu no Kiwami.

 _He still hasn't won a game, though…_ she thought.

When Ryoma accidentally smashed the ball out of the tennis courts, he had fallen and gotten a nosebleed. It was then he lost his sense of touch.

"It's that…" Ayame muttered.

"It's what?" Kikumaru asked. "What are you talking about, Ayame-chan?"

"Yukimura-san's tennis," she replied. "He returns all your shots like a machine. It felt like I'd never score a point… it felt like as if I didn't want to play anymore. My mind was threatening to force me to stop moving. But, for me, I don't know how I was able to resist so hard…"

She heard somebody say that it sounded like the Yips, which was the emotional state of not being able to play properly anymore. Little did Ayame know that she resisted Yips because of three past experiences that prevented her from properly being affected by it: her mother's death, Ryoga's departure, and the recent Ryoma's amnesia. All three of those memories were unforgettable memories that had constantly attacked her mind and she had struggled to forget them, but to no avail. While she had been unable to forget them, it had clung to her mind, strengthening her mentality, and not allowing her to remember Yukimura returning all the balls.

Ayame watched in pained silence as Ryoma began suffering from the full effect of Yips, even going as far as losing his sight and hearing. Ryoma faulted and then did a double fault. He then tripped over the ball near him. Ayame noticed that he was crying. She squeezed her eyes shut and looked away, not wanting to watch her childhood friend suffer. It reminded her of when she refused to look at Ryoma when he found out the truth of Ryoga's departure. She had known Ryoma to be a tough boy, but to see him crying was too much. She wanted him to stop playing, but she knew perfectly well that Ryoma wouldn't forfeit a match, no matter what kind of situation he was in.

Meanwhile, Ryoma remembered Nanjiroh asking him if tennis was fun. He remembered playing tennis with Nanjiroh when he was a small child, and seeing a young Ayame timidly watching from behind a tree. Ayame had approached the court and asked Nanjiroh to teach her tennis, and a few days afterward she was rallying with him. Ryoma remembered the times he shared with Ayame, his Seigaku teammates, and playing with people from other schools.

"Tennis is…" Ryoma said.

Surprised, Ayame opened her eyes and looked to see Ryoma getting up. She noticed that Rikkaidai was stunned by his persistence.

"Tennis is fun!" Ryoma said aloud.

As the area was engulfed in a blinding light, Ryoma's hair spiked up, and he had unlocked Tenimuhou no Kiwami.

 _That's what the old pervert meant!_ Ayame thought, realizing what he had been trying to convey back in Karuizawa.

Ayame watched as Ryoma began to dominate Yukimura. She heard the crowd get excited around her, and soon enough, she heard Nanjiroh behind her. The Seigaku members recognized him as Samurai Nanjiroh. Almost immediately after, Ayame lashed out at Nanjiroh and started attacking him by kicking him repeatedly, leaving the Seigaku members staring at the scene, confused by why she was so violent to him. Their question was soon answered when she yelled "old pervert" at him.

After Ayame calmed down, Nanjiroh started explaining to the Seigaku team about Tenimuhou no Kiwami. Soon after, Ryoma defeats Yukimura and ended it by using the Samurai Drive to split the ball in half and smash both halves into Yukimura's side of the court. Ayame noticed the Seigaku regulars running onto the court to get to Ryoma, and she tried to beat them to it by Ninja Dashing to him… only to run too quickly and crash right into him, knocking him down.

"My bad!" she said as Ryoma got right back up. "You did it, bastard!"

She playfully slapped Ryoma's back… only for him to fall back down from the impact.

 _Uhhhh, I'm pretty sure my arm strength is still weak…_ she thought as she stared down at Ryoma. _How did he fall from that?_

Right then the Seigaku club members came up and swarmed Ryoma.

 _He deserves some Ponta,_ Ayame thought as she watched the award ceremony. _Better make a mental note to go buy some. Also… I'll be the one to beat him next!_


	16. Back to America

**Chapter 16: Back to America**

Karupin lifted his head up as his ears picked up a distinct sound. He recognized it as his master's ringtone for an incoming call on his cell phone. He looked up at the nightstand and saw that the cell phone was indeed ringing. Karupin walked over to his sleeping master's head and started meowing. Ryoma slowly opened his eyes and his mind slowly registered Karupin in front of him.

"What's up, Karupin?" Ryoma mumbled drowsily. "It's not morning yet…"

Karupin climbed onto the nightstand and signaled Ryoma to the phone. Ryoma forced himself up as he answered the call.

"Hello?" he yawned.

"What are you doing?!" a girl's voice boomed on the other end, startling Ryoma and knocking him wide awake.

"Ayame, do you know what time it is?!" Ryoma said grumpily as he recognized her voice.

"Yeah, it's five in the morning! I texted you last night and asked to play a match with you at five today! And you said it was okay!"

Ryoma hesitated. "I thought you meant five in the afternoon…"

"I meant in the morning!"

"You could've been specific!"

"Well? You gonna come down?"

"Can we talk about this another time?! I'm sleepy."

"Fine!"

Ryoma crankily hung up. He was very irritated at Ayame for not being specific about when to play the match and that she called him this early in the morning, despite the fact that she knew perfectly well that he was not good at getting up. He decided to go back to bed and didn't want to think about anything else.

Ayame hung up while having a satisfied look.

 _So this is how he responds when he's called very early in the morning…_ she thought.

The text she sent last night was part of her plan. She knows Ryoma very well, but she wanted to know one more thing about him that she doesn't know – how he responds on a non-school day very early in the morning.

 _The annoyed part was expected, but the anger was not,_ she thought.

When it was close to noon, Ryoma got out of bed, still pretty angry at Ayame for calling him at five in the morning. He was going to go to her to give her a piece of his mind, so he got dressed. As went downstairs, Rinko was on the telephone, and she seemed genuinely concerned about something. She hung up, and she saw Ryoma behind her.

"That was Takeda-san," she said. "He said that Ayame-chan had fallen out of a tree and broke her arm. She's at the hospital right now, but she seems to be doing okay."

Ryoma became shocked. The anger he had at Ayame eviscerated, and he ran to the hospital. He went to Ayame's room.

"Yo," Ayame greeted as soon as she saw him.

"Are you okay?" Ryoma asked. "I heard that you broke your arm."

"I did," Ayame stared down at the cast wrapped around her left arm. "Good thing it was my weaker arm so I can still hit a few light rallies... as long as I stick to forehands."

"How did you break it?" Ryoma asked.

"Well, earlier this morning I was passing by and this little boy's dog was stuck up in a tree. That's right, I said dog, not cat. Don't even ask me how it got up there, but it just did. So I climbed the tree to try to get the dog. However, when I grabbed the puppy, the branch I was standing on snapped, and I fell and landed on my left arm. I was rushed to the hospital after that."

"Mom told me that your father called to tell her about you breaking your arm."

"So you ran here as soon as you could."

Ryoma remained silent, and turned around to leave.

 _You really don't wanna show that you care, do you?_ Ayame thought as Ryoma disappeared around the corner.

Ayame was released from the hospital, but her father forbade her to play any tennis matches. She ended up staying at home, mourning about the fact that she's unable to play a match or her flute.

She spent the next few days recovering, and one day there was a visitor. It was none other than Ryoma.

"Yo," she greeted.

"Chiisu," Ryoma greeted. "I'm gonna go to America."

"What?!" Ayame shouted in surprise. "You're going back?!"

"I came here to let you know. Do you want to come along?"

Ayame wanted to go with Ryoma back to America. She wasn't sure if her father would approve, but she went to go ask him anyway.

"Dad!" she called into the house.

"What is it, Ayame?" a man's voice answered from inside.

"Can I go to America with Ryoma?"

Takeda stopped. He knew very well that his daughter loved to hang around her best friend Ryoma, and he was glad to see her happy. However, going back to America with no adult looking after them is a little dangerous.

 _Her arm's still broken,_ Takeda thought. _But if she's with Ryoma-kun, then the two of them should be able to take care of each other._

He went to the front door where Ayame and Ryoma were.

"You may go, but you need to be careful," Takeda said. "Ryoma-kun, I'm counting on you to make sure that nothing happens to Ayame."

"You can leave it to me," Ryoma said.

"Ayame, make sure you go to a hospital every few days to see when your arm recovers," Takeda said to her.

Later in the afternoon, the two friends went to the airport together and left Tokyo on a flight to New York.

 _He didn't even stop to say goodbye to his team…_ Ayame thought as she took the seat by a window. _I wonder how long they'll notice that he left…_

The plane soon took off. Ayame stared out the window as Tokyo started disappearing from view. She had already begun to miss her father, but knew that she made the decision to go with her best friend to America. She looked over to the seat next to her where Ryoma was sitting. He was fast asleep. Ayame reached over, grabbed his tennis bag under the seat, and took out his Gameboy Advance. She turned it on and began playing on it to pass the time. Ryoma had said that it was okay for her to play on it, so she decided to do so.

Meanwhile, back in Tokyo, Takeda looked through the window up to the sky. He couldn't help worrying about his only child, but kept reassuring himself that she'll be okay as long as she stays with Ryoma. Takeda had grown more protective over Ayame after his wife died.

 _Houko…_ his thoughts ran as he thought about his wife.

He thought that it was a horrible time for Houko to die in an accident. Ayame was still very young during that time, and Houko was pregnant with another child. Ayame would've had a younger sibling, but thanks to the accident, she will always be an only child. Takeda knew that Ayame wanted siblings, but since Houko's death made it impossible, she ended up hanging out with the Echizen boys like as if they were her brothers. He also avoided telling her that Houko was pregnant before she died.

Back on the plane to New York, Ayame grew bored of playing on Ryoma's Gameboy Advance and packed it back into his tennis bag. She began reminiscing the times she shared with Ryoma after Ryoga left.

 _He was never quite the same after Ryoga left…_ she thought. _As time went on, he grew increasingly cold and somewhat rude… that was when I started calling him "bastard", and surprisingly he took it like a nickname of some sort._

She had known that Nanjiroh annoys him a lot, similarly to how she gets annoyed. As she remembered that, she wondered if that was the reason why Ryoma was who he was now. She stopped thinking about it as she pulled out a book to read.

The plane eventually arrived at New York, and the whole time felt like a blur to Ayame. She stared down from the plane as the buildings and streets gradually began to get bigger in view.

"Ryoma, wake up," she said, shaking him.

Ryoma groaned and slowly woke up.

"What is it…?" he asked Ayame groggily.

"Open your eyes, sleepyhead," Ayame said. "We're here."

The two freshmen got off the plane. They found a hotel and shared a room… with two different beds.

"It's been a long while since I last had to speak English," Ayame said as soon as they settled. "It feels strange to speak my first language after all this time."

Due to her being born in America, English had been her first language. She did not learn Japanese just because she was Japanese (her parents moved to America from Nagasaki before she was born), but rather to communicate with Ryoga. Ryoga was unable to speak English, and spoke only Japanese. By the time she befriended the Echizens, Ryoma already knew both languages and translated for her and Ryoga, which he had found inconvenient. Ayame then learned Japanese so she could properly speak with Ryoga and so Ryoma didn't have to translate.

Ayame and Ryoma then went about their business around New York. They often took walks out on the streets and often went their separate ways, but they always met back in the hotel at night. The two spent a few weeks in America before Ryoma told Ayame something.

"The senpai-tachi are having a practice camp with the Osaka representatives," Ryoma said to her. "I'm temporarily going to Osaka to join them."

"Oh, okay," Ayame said.

Ayame wanted to go as well, but she knew that with her broken arm, she's not able to play any matches.

"Don't worry, I'll be back once we're done," Ryoma said.

"Well, I'll wait until you come back then," Ayame said.

She watched as Ryoma left the hotel for Osaka. For the days that Ryoma was gone, she did not go for walks. Instead, she stayed inside of the hotel room, waiting for Ryoma's return and letting her arm recover. By the time the day that Ryoma returns finally arrived, her arm was healed and she was capable of playing matches again. She was just tapping a ball with her racket until the door opened.

"Ryoma!" she said, happy to see her friend again.

"Chiisu," Ryoma greeted.

"How was it?" she asked.

"It was okay. They were wondering where you were, though. I told them that you were in New York, recovering from an injury. Oishi-senpai thought that you got the injury similarly to how Tezuka-buchou injured himself, but I told him that you were trying to rescue a dog from a tree and you got injured when you fell."

"Is that so?"

"I think the Osaka representatives wanted to play you, though. Especially Kenya-san."

"Who's that?"

"The guy who runs really fast."

"Oh yeah. I think that was the guy who asked me about you during the second round of the Nationals."

"I see that your arm is healed now."

"Yeah. It healed while you were gone."

"Do you wanna hit a little?"

"Sounds good."

"Let's go find a court."


	17. The Two Samurai and The Kunoichi

**Chapter 17: The Two Samurai and The Kunoichi**

Ayame walked down the streets of New York alone. Weeks passed since she had went back to America with Ryoma. It felt like she had never been to Japan and had always been in America. She was taking one of her walks that she often took.

Ayame wandered down the road and stopped at a tennis court. She saw someone that she initially thought was Ryoma, but upon closer inspection, he was taller and much older. The older boy rallied with a tennis ball against the wall, and soon busted it open. He turned around and saw her.

"Ay-chan…?" he said with uncertainty.

Ayame recognized that nickname at once.

"Ryoga…?" she said incredulously.

They both stared at each other. Seconds passed. The blue eyes and the hazel eyes were still staring at each other. Ayame was first to break out of her trance.

"Ryogaaaaaaa!" Ayame cried as she ran onto the tennis court to hug him, only to tackle him before doing so.

"Long time no see, ninja girl," Ryoga said, amused at her action. "I see you're able to run faster than back then. Now don't go crying now that we've met after all this time. How's Chibisuke?"

"He's doing well," she replied.

"Great to hear. I heard that his school won the Nationals back in Japan."

"They did."

Ayame and Ryoga walked down the streets of New York together while conversing.

"So how have you been doing, Ryoga?" Ayame asked.

"Been doin' great. And you?" Ryoga asked.

"Damn, couldn't be better. First I got to see Seigaku win at the Nationals, and I run into you."

"Did you miss me?"

"Terribly. I don't think Ryoma remembers you, though."

"Oi, oi… Chibisuke wouldn't forget me."

"I'm pretty sure he would. He didn't even remember how he met me…"

"You're playing around, aren't you?"

"Sadly, no. I'm not kidding. I'll bet if he sees you now, he wouldn't remember until we say something. Let's go."

"So where're you and Chibisuke staying at?"

Ayame led Ryoga to the hotel room that she shared with Ryoma.

"Ahh, seems like he's not back yet," Ayame remarked.

"Should we wait for him?" Ryoga asked.

"Yeah. He'll come back."

Ayame and Ryoga then started talking about the period of time that they were separated.

"When I first saw you, I thought you were Ryoma, but then I saw that you were too tall."

"Oi oi, do I really look like Chibisuke?"

"A little. Just older."

"Y'know, when I was watching the Nationals tournament, I was watching Chibisuke's match. When the camera angle changed, I saw you watching Chibisuke in the crowd. You looked almost like back when you were smaller… except prettier and taller."

They spent nearly an hour talking until the door opened and Ryoma stepped in.

"Ayame, who is that?" Ryoma asked as soon as he saw Ryoga.

"See? I told you he'd forget!" Ayame said bluntly to Ryoga.

"I'm Echizen Ryoga," Ryoga said to Ryoma.

 _Echizen Ryoga?_ Ryoma's confused thoughts went.

"Who are you again?" Ryoma asked with uncertainty.

"N-no way. Don't tell me you forgot the face of your older brother," Ryoga said to Ryoma.

"Ryoma…" Ayame started. "Ryoga's your older half-brother. I met you when he still lived under the same roof as you. I played with you and him every day. Do you remember at all?"

She snatched the orange that Ryoga was carrying in his hand from him and gave it to Ryoma. Ryoma looked at the orange and his expression slowly changed to realization.

"Do you remember now?" Ayame asked Ryoma.

Ryoma suddenly saw bits and pieces of the past: rallying with Ryoga, Ayame defending him from Ryoga's teasing, Ayame and Ryoga playing a serious match, Ryoga continually calling Ayame "Ay-chan", and the three getting into trouble together by stealing from the neighbors.

After a moment of hesitation, Ayame spoke. "Ryoga, I never talked about you again when you left. I thought it'd be too painful for Ryoma."

Ryoma suddenly remembered the day when he went to the burger store with Ayame, Momo, and Kikumaru. Right then, Kikumaru called her "Ay-chan", which caused her to run away. He finally realized what had happened there and why all of the sudden she didn't want anybody to call her "Ay-chan".

"Oi, Chibisuke," Ryoga said. "Have you been dating with Ay-chan while I was gone?"

Ryoma shot Ryoga an annoyed look, and Ayame attacked Ryoga by kicking him in the stomach.

"We weren't dating!" she shouted.

"Oww…" Ryoga groaned in agony. "Ay-chan, that really hurt! What was that for?"

"Ryoma and I weren't dating!" she said fiercely. "Unless you suddenly changed into that annoying old pervert, then I'll gladly kick you anytime I want!"

"What is she talking about?" Ryoga asked Ryoma.

"Ayame always kicked Dad," Ryoma replied.

"Oh yeah," Ryoga said. "Every time she used to come over to play, she would kick Dad. But seriously, Ay-chan, you kick way too hard now."

"Do you guys wanna hit a little bit?" Ayame asked.

The three went outside and ended up at a park. They stood in a triangle formation and rallied three balls together.

"Ay-chan and Chibisuke," Ryoga said as they rallied. "You two seem to have improved a lot!"

"Same goes for you!" Ayame said. "How 'bout playing a match?"

"Ay-chan, you were good at tennis back then, but you'll never beat me!" Ryoga said arrogantly.

"You don't know that until I try!" Ayame retorted.

"Why don't you play a match with me then?" Ryoma suggested to Ryoga.

"You won't beat me either, Chibisuke!" Ryoga said. "Ay-chan has better chances, she was better than you back then!"

"Actually, about that…" Ayame said. "We don't know who's better now. A while back, Ryoma and I played a match, and it tied because we both collapsed and fainted. Ryoma got much stronger during the Nationals tournament, and I've been working out too."

Ayame had been training harder ever since the Nationals started. She had been fired up about the fact that Ryoma unlocked the three doors of Muga no Kyouchi and wanted to catch up with him. After Nationals, she figured out Tenimuhou no Kiwami, and could nearly activate it at will. They have not played a match ever since, so whoever is the stronger tennis player is still unclear.

Soon, the three stopped rallying and began walking back to the hotel.

"Chibisuke and Ay-chan," Ryoga began. "I need to go somewhere now."

"Aww, you have to even after we just met again after all those years?" a disappointed Ayame asked.

"Ay-chan, I know you carry a cell phone around. Give it to me so I can write my number."

Ayame handed Ryoga her cell phone and he recorded his contact information into it.

"There," he said as he handed her cell phone back. "Now you can call me anytime if you wanna talk."

"OK!" Ayame said.

Ayame and Ryoma watched as Ryoga disappeared down the streets.

 _After all these years…_ Ayame thought. _After all these years… I found Ryoga… Too bad I couldn't play a match to finally beat him… but then again, he might've been working hard as well. But I'm definitely beating him this time!_

Meanwhile, Ryoma had been having mixed feelings about seeing Ryoga. When Ayame explained things to him, he suddenly remembered everything. He was shocked at the sudden revelation and glad that he saw his long lost half-brother.

"Hey, Ryoma," Ayame said.

"What is it?" Ryoma asked.

"During Halloween, you and Ryoga would go up to the front doors and get candy from trick-or-treating. Then you'd both ask questions about the spooky decorations at their houses while I stole some candy behind the homeowner's back. Do you remember that?"

"Oh yeah! I remember that! Then when we were done, you'd split the stolen candy with us. That was fun."

"Those were the good old times."

"A lot of our adventures involved you stealing from the neighbors."

"Yeah, that was a lot of fun."

"I remember when we were laughing about getting away with them."

"Haha, yeah. You two were the samurai, and I was the kunoichi. We played our roles by having you and Ryoga confront things directly while I snuck around and played my role as a ninja. Except we switched roles every time we stole oranges."

"Now that you mention all this stealing stuff, were you the one who stole Marui-san's gum?"

"If you mean the redhead who loves to chew gum, then yeah. He wouldn't give me anymore, so I mugged him."

"During the Nationals, Rikkai had been saying that he wanted to find the culprit, but he couldn't figure out who stole his gum. I thought it was you, because I've known all this time that you're good at stealing things without getting caught."

"Doesn't that make me as cool as a ninja?"

"Uh… yeah…"

"Well, I'm gonna go find a court."

"Why?"

"Self-training."

Ayame walked away and found a court. She began rallying against the wall, with the intent of defeating Ryoga in a match.

 _Even though I've looked up to you, I will definitely defeat you!_ she thought fiercely as she hit the ball as hard as she could. _That was the reason why I wanted to get stronger!_


	18. Ryoma vs Kevin

**Chapter 18: Ryoma vs Kevin**

"OK, I'll serve now!" Ayame called to Ryoma from the other side of the court.

Ayame tossed the ball and swung her racket down. The ball sailed over the net, and Ryoma returned it. Ayame hit the highest lob that she could hit. Ryoma leaped up and used a backhand swing. The ball flew into the rope that held the net, and it split in half. Ayame returned both halves, but Ryoma was only able to return one.

"Che…" Ryoma sighed.

"Oi, Ryoma," Ayame said. "I think you should hurry up and try to master rallying with two halves. We don't have an infinite amount of tennis balls to bust in half."

They were about to return to position until they were spotted by a blonde American that looked like he was their age.

" _Ryoma Echizen!_ " he called out in English.

Ayame and Ryoma stopped and looked over to the boy.

" _What do you want?_ " Ryoma called back.

" _Play a match with me,_ " the boy called back. " _I've been waiting for years to face you!_ "

" _Who are you?_ " Ryoma asked.

" _I'm Kevin Smith!_ " the boy replied. " _I've finished my preparations to beat you long ago!_ "

"Are you gonna play?" Ayame asked Ryoma.

"May as well," Ryoma answered. "I'm sure I can beat him without using my Muga no Kyouchi, Drive C, Drive D, COOL Drive, and Samurai Drive."

"Hah, you still talk big, bastard," Ayame said as she stepped off the court. " _I'll be the ref!_ "

Ryoma and Kevin got onto the court while Ayame sat back and watched.

" _Are you playing for the revenge of your father?_ " Ryoma asked.

Ayame remembered what Rinko told her. Fifteen years earlier, Nanjiroh had defeated Kevin's father George Smith miserably. It all happened when Rinko was injured trying to rescue a boy from his Spartan methods of teaching tennis. Nanjiroh had seen her injured, and he heard from other Americans that George had done it to Rinko. At that point, he was like, oh no he didn't, so he ended up playing a match with George. Nanjiroh easily defeats him, even doing so with his eyes closed, causing George to quit tennis.

" _That's not it!_ " Kevin said angrily. " _Don't confuse me for my dad!_ "

Kevin had grown up being abused by his father. He viewed George as useless, as he had quit tennis. Kevin later learned that it was because George was utterly beaten by Echizen Nanjiroh. After some time had passed, Kevin learned about Nanjiroh's son Ryoma playing in the tournaments and winning them. He had thought, no way I'd lose to a Japanese guy, so he got serious and trained hard, all to defeat Ryoma.

Ryoma ended up serving first, and he executed his Twist Serve, which Kevin didn't return.

"15-0!"

Ryoma hit a Twist Serve again, and this time Kevin returned it. They rallied until Ryoma executed a Drive B.

"30-0!"

Ryoma held serve. It was Kevin's serve, and he hit a Twist Serve. Ryoma, stunned, avoided the ball as he didn't react on time to return it.

"15-0!"

Ayame stared as she noted that Kevin's Twist Serve was exactly like Ryoma's. However, she kept calm as she continued to judge. Kevin held his serve, leaving the game score as 1-1.

Ayame soon noticed that Kevin had been copying Ryoma's techniques, as he began to use them.

 _That crazy kid did a lot of hardcore researching on Ryoma, didn't he?_ she thought.

* * *

"Game won by Smith! 5-4!"

" _Ryoma Echizen,_ " Kevin said, pointing his racket. " _I've seen through all your techniques!_ "

Ryoma glared at Kevin. Ayame knew that Ryoma was pissed right now, as during the match, he had yelled, "You copying me is annoying!" She was wondering if Kevin knew the other techniques that Ryoma could use.

 _So far he used the Twist Serve, Drive B, Drive A, Zero-Shiki Drop Shot, and the Split Step..._ Ayame thought. _But what about that last move that Ryoma didn't restrict?_

Kevin lobbed the ball. Ryoma performed a mighty leap and executed the Cyclone Smash, stunning Kevin.

"0-15!"

 _What was that ball just now?_ Kevin thought as he stared at the spot where the ball landed.

" _Hey, didn't you say you've seen through all my techniques?_ " Ryoma asked.

Ayame knew that Ryoma rarely used the Cyclone Smash after the Kanto tournament. He had told her that he would only use it as a last resort should his other moves ever fail. As far as she knew, he had not used the Cyclone Smash in a match up until now.

When Kevin served, Ryoma returned the ball after his right hand looked as though it was holding an imaginary ball. Ayame realized that he was pulling off an incomplete version of her Gemini, and he hit a one-ball Gemini that disrupted Kevin's timing.

"0-30!"

" _Gemini,_ " Ryoma said. " _It is not my technique, but hers._ "

He motioned to Ayame.

 _It wasn't mine…_ Ayame thought. _I just happened to see it performed during a live tournament held in England, and I thought it was cool, so I learned it…_

Ryoma and Kevin continued rallying, and Kevin hit a cross court shot that Ryoma wouldn't be able to reach. Ryoma reacted fast and pushed off of the ground as he executed a Ninja Dash. Though he was far from being as fast as Ayame (Ayame's Ninja Dash allows her to run at a speed where she seems to be teleporting), he was able to move fast enough to reach the ball.

"0-40!"

" _Ninja Dash,_ " Ryoma said. " _This is another one of her techniques._ "

 _I thought I've seen through all of Ryoma's techniques!_ Kevin thought, frustrated. _He was even able to use someone else's techniques?!_

" _As of so far, the only person on this court who is capable of beating me in a match is her,_ " Ryoma went on. " _I don't lose to anybody else._ "

Ryoma scored, bringing the game to 5-5. He began to dominate Kevin by alternating between Cyclone Smashes and using Ayame's moves: Gemini, Ninja Dash, and the reverse Twist Serve. It brought the game to 6-5, but Ayame knew that Kevin wouldn't let it end that easily.

Kevin then revealed a move that was of his creation rather than a "plagiarized" move: Illusion. He hit the ball with the side of his racket, causing the ball to vibrate so rapidly that Ayame saw two afterimages. Ryoma, confused by the afterimages, missed the ball.

 _This is bad for Ryoma…_ Ayame thought. _With his superb eyesight, he can catch moving objects, but a move like this could bite him hard… How long could his eyes hold out?_

"15-0!"

Kevin kept using Illusion, bringing the game into a tiebreak. Ryoma was about to serve, and Ayame noticed that he was bouncing the ball for an unusually longer time than normal.

 _What are you thinking of, Ryoma?_ Ayame thought.

Ryoma served the ball, and Kevin soon used his Illusion. Ryoma pulled his cap down low over his face and stared at the ground. He then returned the ball, shocking Ayame and Kevin, the latter not reacting on time to return the ball.

"1-0! Ryoma leads!"

 _It's a fluke… it's got to be a fluke…_ Kevin thought as he served.

The Illusion was coming again, and Ryoma returned it effortlessly.

 _The shadow!_ Ayame realized as she looked where Ryoma was looking. _He's watching the shadow of the ball to return it!_

"2-0! Ryoma leads!"

 _It's not a fluke…?_ Kevin thought, bewildered.

" _If you think it's a fluke, then you can try hitting it as many times as you want!_ " Ryoma called, as though he read Kevin's mind.

Kevin attempted an Illusion, but was once again returned by Ryoma.

"3-0! Ryoma leads!"

 _My Illusion… so easily returned…?_ Kevin thought as he realized that Ryoma returning the ball was indeed no fluke.

The rally continued, and Kevin accidentally hit a lob. Ryoma wasted no time in executing Cyclone Smash.

"4-0! Ryoma leads!"

Ayame noticed that Kevin began to get desperate, and he blindly unlocked Muga no Kyouchi. With the Muga no Kyouchi, Kevin started winning some points back.

"4-3! Ryoma leads!"

Ryoma began retaliating by repeatedly hitting Cyclone Smashes until the racket was knocked out of Kevin's hand.

"5-3! Ryoma leads!"

Ayame watched as Ryoma ended it with another Cyclone Smash.

"Game and match, Ryoma! 7-6!"

"Mada mada dane," Ayame heard Ryoma say his favorite phrase.

She watched as the two boys shared a handshake.

"Ryoma, are you tired?" Ayame asked him.

"No," he answered.

"Now then, shall we continue what we were doing?"

"Yeah."

" _What are you two saying?_ " Kevin asked.

" _Oh, Ryoma and I are gonna continue our exercise,_ " Ayame answered.

Kevin watched as Ayame got onto the court and she began rallying with Ryoma. She lobbed the ball, and Ryoma executed his Samurai Drive. Ayame reacted fast and returned both halves. They managed to rally for a while with the two halves, but at one point Ryoma couldn't return a second half.

 _What was that he just used…?_ Kevin wondered.

" _Samurai Drive,_ " Ayame answered, as though she read Kevin's thoughts. " _Ryoma could split the ball in half with that move. He's been trying to work on holding up a rally with both halves, and I'm his training partner._ "

 _He had a move that he didn't use…?_ Kevin thought, intimidated by the idea of Ryoma using the Samurai Drive against him.

" _Oh, he had more than just Samurai Drive_ ," Ayame went on. " _He had Drive C, Drive D, and COOL Drive. Also Muga no Kyouchi._ "

Ryoma missed another half.

"Mada mada dana, Ryoma!" Ayame called to him, causing him to glare at her.

Soon, Ryoma was too exhausted to continue, so he and Ayame called it quits for the day.

"Seriously, Ryoma…" Ayame sighed. "You gotta work on your stamina some more if you think you could keep this up all day after playing a match."

Ryoma shot Ayame his most deadly _San Paku Gan_ , but she was unfazed.

" _What did you say?_ " Kevin asked, as he was still watching the two friends rallying.

" _I told Ryoma that he needs to work on his stamina,_ " Ayame answered.

" _What's your name?_ "

" _Ayame Kanna. I'm a good friend of Ryoma's._ "

Ayame packed away her racket while Ryoma packed his.

" _Well, we're gonna go back to the hotel we're staying at,_ " Ayame said as she picked up her bag.

She walked out of the court with Ryoma and they made it back to the hotel.

 _Even here in America, he's still got rivals…_ she thought as she settled down. _I wonder who'll target him next..._


	19. One-Footed Ninja Dash

**Chapter 19: One-Footed Ninja Dash**

Ryoma woke up and noticed that Ayame wasn't around. It was nothing new to him, as Ayame often got up before he did, and she was always out and about doing her business. He got out of bed to get dressed and went to a convenience store to buy some energy drinks.

When he was fixing to pay at the cash register, he overheard a conversation between two American men.

" _Hey, another gang war has started in that alleyway,_ " the first one said.

" _It seems like it's gonna get ugly real quick…_ " the second one remarked.

" _Did you hear? Apparently a girl has been caught up in the gang war when she was just passing by._ "

" _A girl?_ "

" _My friend told me that she's a Japanese girl carrying a heavy tennis bag on her back. He said that she appears to have not reached her teens yet."_

" _How did she get involved?_ "

" _I'm not sure. I heard that she started attacking by kicking. She's still fighting in there, or so I've heard. She should've ran while she had the chance. I'll bet she'll be seriously injured by now._ "

Ryoma ran out of the store and left his drinks behind. He began running up and down the streets looking for the alleyway that was mentioned in the conversation between the two men. He didn't go too far until he heard the sounds of a violent fight. Ryoma ran around the corner and saw a bunch of bloodied teenage boys lying on the ground, unconscious.

Directly up ahead were a bunch of boys beating each other up. Right then, a blur of blue whizzed past them and they fell to the ground like as if the blue object was a bullet that pierced through them. The blue object finally stopped, revealing itself to be Ayame wearing a blue shirt and a pink miniskirt. Her shirt and miniskirt were tattered, and she was trying to catch her breath after kicking the boys. A small kitten was wrapped around her right arm against her body.

Ayame looked back at the alleyway, and she backed away when another teenage boy was about to punch her. She fell, and Ryoma quickly drew his tennis racket and hit a tennis ball at the boy. She caught sight of Ryoma, who ran to her and grabbed her arm.

"Let's go!" he said.

However, when he pulled her, she simply collapsed.

"I can't!" Ayame said, sweating. "I twisted my ankle!"

Ryoma realized that there was no way he could escape with Ayame if she can't run, so instead he prepared to hit any other teenager heading right for them. He ended up having to fend for himself and Ayame as more kept coming. Ayame took out her tennis racket to assist him, and soon the whole alleyway became quiet.

"What were you doing?" Ryoma asked Ayame.

"I was tryna save this kitten who got caught in the fight," Ayame answered as she released the kitten.

Ayame's answer prompted Ryoma to do a pratfall.

 _She put her life on the line just to save a cat…_ he thought as he stared at her.

"How did you know I was here?" Ayame asked.

"I heard some people mentioning you being involved," Ryoma answered.

Ayame got up, but she couldn't move that well with her twisted ankle. Sighing, Ryoma scooped her up onto his back and began walking back to the hotel. This was no easy feat, as he had to support the weight of a girl his age as well as a tennis bag that has a racket, a few tennis balls, a flute, and a couple of books inside. He finally got back to the room where Ayame relaxed.

"Why do you always end up beating up guys?" Ryoma asked her.

"They always go for me first," Ayame answered. "And it's not like I should sit there and let them do whatever they want to me."

Dejected, Ayame stared out the window.

"Ahhh, now I can't even go out and run anymore," she sighed.

"You shouldn't have gotten involved," Ryoma said bluntly.

"Geez. You don't always have to be so cold, you bastard. I couldn't leave that kitten there."

Ryoma picked up his tennis bag and left the room, leaving Ayame sitting there, watching him leave. She limped from her spot and tried to change in the bathroom, as her clothes were torn in the violent fight.

 _What'll Dad say if he finds out that these were torn because I was in a violent fight?_ she wondered. _Maybe if I told him, he won't let me stay with Ryoma anymore… because I was walking all alone and I ran into those gangsters… What excuse should I make? Hmm… Maybe I'll say that I fell while running._

Ayame grabbed her racket and started swinging it. She stopped every once in a while to stare at the racket, and kept swinging until Ryoma eventually came back into the room.

"Ryoma, can you come with me to a court?" she asked.

"Isn't your ankle twisted?" he asked.

"I know, but can you please come with me to a court?"

Ayame limped behind Ryoma as they went to look for a court. They each stood on one end of the court.

"I want to try something," Ayame said. "So please serve."

Ryoma took a ball out of his pocket and served. With her twisted ankle, Ayame couldn't reach the ball. Ryoma wasn't sure what her intentions were for playing tennis with an injured foot, but he continued to serve balls, as she insisted.

When Ryoma served the thirty-sixth ball, Ayame suddenly seemed to teleport from the baseline to where the ball landed, performing a rising shot.

"I managed to get it, but it's still got lots more to work on," she said as she panted.

"Was that a Ninja Dash?" Ryoma asked.

"Yeah… a one-footed one… You could use a one-footed Split Step, right?"

"I see. You're trying to be able to use a one-footed Ninja Dash in case if you're suffering an injury like you are now."

"Yeah… that's just in case if I can't use the Kunoichi Zone. Will you please help me perfect my Ninja Dash?"

"Fine by me."

Ryoma continued serving balls over to Ayame as she struggled to pull off a one-footed Ninja Dash. As the balls kept going, Ayame noticed that a one-footed Ninja Dash does not cover the court as much as her usual double-footed Ninja Dash, but it is much faster to execute.

 _The Ninja Dash involves me propelling off the ground and using the momentum to run at my highest speed…_ she thought. _With only one foot, I don't have as much momentum, and I can't run the maximum distance… But since it only involves one foot, I can execute it slightly faster than the usual. I guess it would be good for reacting to fast balls._

The first year middle schoolers rallied until Ayame was unable to run on one foot, so they called it quits. They started walking back to the hotel together… only for Ayame to fall back down from the pain and having Ryoma to lug her on his back again.

"Really," Ryoma groaned as he struggled to support the heavy weight on his back. "Couldn't you have done the practice AFTER your ankle is better?"

"Sorry," Ayame said, not actually feeling sorry that Ryoma has to carry her. "I just came up with it after you left earlier, and I couldn't wait to try it out."

The two eventually made it back to the hotel. Ryoma was not in a helpful mood at the moment since he had to carry Ayame twice in one day, so the instant they stepped into the room, he dropped her onto the ground in front of the doorway.

"That was rude," Ayame remarked.

"Don't make me do this twice in one day," Ryoma said coldly.

Ayame had to spend the next few days letting her ankle recover before she could take walks again. When she was finally able to walk fine, she immediately went out to master her one-footed Ninja Dash.

 _With this, I'll make sure I'll beat Ryoma and Ryoga in a match!_ she thought fiercely.


	20. Ayame on a Sick Day

**Hey guys, I've been having writer's block for a while, so I haven't updated up til now. But anyway, here's the next chapter concerning the two freshmen who are playing hooky together in America.  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 20: Ayame on a Sick Day**

Ayame climbed out of bed. She opened the window a little, trying not to wake Ryoma, who is sleeping on the other bed. It was somewhat cloudy outside.

 _OK, time to go work out!_ she thought as she went into the bathroom to get dressed.

As soon as she was done getting dressed, Ayame grabbed her tennis bag and quietly left the hotel room. She began heading for the nearest park. As soon as she got there, she got onto a running trail and started running on there.

Ayame ran fifteen laps in three minutes, and she wasn't running her full speed. She wasn't out of breath at all as she kept running. This caught the attention of other Americans who were passing by. In their view, they're seeing this Japanese middle schoolgirl running down the trail at an incredible speed while carrying a heavy tennis bag.

At her fortieth lap, she halted to catch her breath. She was about to start running again, but something made her stop.

 _I feel like I'm being watched…_ she thought grimly as she heightened her guard.

More clouds started rolling in, and Ayame felt like as though some spirit is watching her. But she knew there were human beings near her that are watching her. She instinctively started reaching for her racket as she looked around to survey her surroundings. Finally, in one quick motion, she did a 180° turn to face a set of bushes, took out her racket, and tossed five balls.

" _Show yourself!_ " she shouted as she hit the balls toward the bushes.

The balls made the impact sound of hitting something, and Ayame heard yells of pain. Five high school boys tumbled out of the bushes.

 _America_ _'s full of insane people…_ Ayame thought. _I can see why these guys are after me._

" _Hey, you!_ " Ayame shouted as she began kicking the boys. " _If you're looking to rape a girl, don't you dare do it to me!_ "

Ayame looked around and saw no one else nearby. With that, she continued to ruthlessly attack the high school boys. She did not relent her attacking until she knocked them out cold. With that, she left the park.

Little did Ayame know was that she had beaten up a group of gangsters that were wanted for committing robberies. They also liked to rape beautiful girls. Ayame was considered pretty in most people's eyes, which was why she was targeted. Unfortunately for the gangsters, she was not the type of girl to pick fights with, so they ended up getting punished by her.

After Ayame left the scene, she started looking for a tennis court. Before she could find one, it started raining.

 _Even better…_ she thought with pleasure. _Then for sure the courts will be open for me to use._

Ayame eventually found a tennis court and began practicing in the rain. She is used to playing in rainy conditions after spending years of practice of training in the rain with the Echizens. She began rallying against the wall while making absolute sure that her grip doesn't slip.

Thirteen minutes into the rallying, it started raining harder, and there was a flash of light, followed by a loud crackling noise. Ayame, startled by the sudden thunder, let her grip slip out of her hand.

 _Damn, there's thunder and lightning!_ she thought glumly. _Gotta get back to the hotel…_

Ayame hastily packed her racket and took out her umbrella. She ran as fast as she could without slipping back to the hotel while fighting against the wind. As soon as she stepped into the lobby, she closed up her umbrella and slowed to a walk as she headed for her hotel room.

Ayame unlocked the door and entered the room. She looked around and noticed that Ryoma wasn't there.

 _He's probably still out there…_ she thought as she put down her tennis bag. _He should be coming back. It's kinda dangerous to be out there with all that thunder and lightning…_

Ayame sat on her bed and waited patiently. It was twenty three minutes before the door opened and Ryoma came in, soaking wet.

"Yo," Ayame greeted.

"Chiisu," Ryoma greeted back, and sneezed.

Ayame stared out the window as Ryoma settled down. As he did so, she began noticing that Ryoma had been sneezing ever since he came back.

"Ryoma, are you alright?" Ayame asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," Ryoma answered as he shivered.

Ayame knew that he wasn't fine, as he sounded hoarse, and he looked as though he was lacking energy. She looked back at him, and watched in horror as he dizzily fell down. She rushed over to him and laid her hand on his forehand.

"Ryoma, you're feeling a bit warm!" she said in alarm.

Ryoma ended up staying in bed. Ayame knew that the weather was still bad and she couldn't possibly go out and look for some medicine.

 _I have to look after him…_ she thought. _Ryoga told me to look after Ryoma for him… Should I go out now? Or should I wait until the rain lets up?_

Even though it was six years ago that Ryoga asked Ayame to look after Ryoma for him, she had actually followed his words for the majority of her life. She still followed those words now, though after a few years she did it subtly. She would do it even if it meant putting her life on the line.

Ryoma knew that only Ayame was there to look after him for now, and was glad that she wasn't freaking out about him falling ill, as Nanako would've done so. Ayame, on the other hand, was panicked about the fact that she was the only person who could look after Ryoma at this moment. She felt like as though she was dealing with a crisis where no one could help her. She thought that Ryoma wouldn't be pleased if she panicked, so she hid it.

Ryoma soon fell asleep, and Ayame took out her cell phone and called the Echizen household back in Tokyo.

"Hello?" Nanako answered.

"Nanako-san?" Ayame said.

"Oh! Ayame-chan! Is there anything you need?"

"Can I please speak to Rinko-san?"

"Sure, hold on one minute."

Ayame waited until Rinko's voice was answering.

"Ayame-chan? Is something wrong?" Rinko asked.

"Yeah… Ryoma's caught a cold from staying out in the rain too long…" Ayame answered regretfully.

"Oh no…"

"I can't take him to a doctor because the weather's horrible right now. I'm doing the best I can for right now."

"I see… Well, it can't be helped that things are left up to you. But please, look after Ryoma for me."

"I will."

"Thank you, Ayame-chan. Let me know if anything happens."

Ayame hung up, surprised that Rinko was pretty calm about the whole situation. She then called Ryoga.

"Hello?" Ryoga's voice answered on the other end.

"Ryoga?" Ayame said.

"What is it, Ay-chan? Do you miss me already?"

"Now's not the time for that!" Ayame fought every instinct in her body to smash her cell phone as well as holding back the urge to snap. "Ryoma's caught a cold from staying out in the rain too long…"

"Chibisuke's sick?"

"Yeah… He's sleeping right now, but I don't think I could look after him by myself. Do you think you could swing by and help?"

"Of course. I'll come over as soon as I can."

Ayame stood and waited in impatience for Ryoga to come while staring at a clock. Minutes passed. Hours soon passed as well. Ryoma soon woke up and saw Ayame staring at the clock.

"Ayame…?" he called her name with uncertainty.

Ayame's gaze was fixed onto the clock, but upon closer inspection, her eyes were glassy. She held a blank expression, and it reminded Ryoma of when Ayame had tasted Inui Juice… except back then she had a stunned expression like as though she saw a piano playing by itself. Her muscles were stiff, and she looked as though she was petrified. Ryoma forced himself into a sitting up position as he stared at Ayame. However, he didn't get to inspect her for that long before he collapsed back onto the bed from exhaustion.

Soon after, somebody knocked at the door. Ryoma, knowing that Ayame is unresponsive, wanted to go answer, but he lacked the energy to get out of bed. The knocking came again.

"Ay-chan, it's Ryoga!" a familiar voice called from the other side.

Back out in the hall, Ryoga waited for an answer. When none came, he knocked again.

"Ay-chan!" he called.

Ayame finally snapped out of her trance as her ice blue eyes slid back into focus and she answered the door.

"What took you so long?" Ryoga asked her.

"What were you even doing, Ayame?" Ryoma asked her.

"I was having a staring contest with the clock," she replied, causing both the Echizen boys to do a pratfall. "I don't remember what happened after five minutes in."

"Sorry I took so long," Ryoga said. "It was hard to travel through all that rain out there earlier."

Ayame, reminded about the weather, looked out the window. It had long stopped raining. She watched as Ryoga checked on Ryoma.

"Ay-chan, I need you to run over to a pharmacy and grab some medicine," Ryoga said. "I know you can run really fast. Can you do it?"

"No problem," Ayame answered as she picked up her tennis bag. "I could use a good workout about now anyway."

She left the room as she ran to the nearest pharmacy. She knew where to go, as she often passed by the place during her strolls. Ayame entered and began searching for medicine. She found what she needed, bought the medicine, and sprinted back to the hotel.

"That was fast," Ryoga remarked. "I knew I could count on you, Ay-chan."

Ryoga gave Ryoma the medicine.

"Make sure he takes a dose every night," Ryoga said. "I'll leave it up to you, and I'll come back every once in a while to check on Chibisuke."

Ayame watched Ryoga leave, wishing that he could stay. She didn't want to deal with Ryoma alone, but knew she had to. She could be out practicing tennis, running down the trail, or beating up idiotic delinquents.

Since her bitter past, she had grown paranoid that her father would die next, and wanted to learn how to take care of herself as early as possible. She spent weeks learning before moving to Japan, and now she has to apply what she learned now to take care of Ryoma.

Meanwhile at the park, the police have discovered the five unconscious gangsters that Ayame beat up. They were more than happy to place them under arrest, but wondered who could've beaten them up. The police didn't believe them when the gangsters mentioned that it was an Asian girl at a middle school age. They would never find out who the attacker was.

Ayame spent the next few days looking after Ryoma, waiting for his fever to go down. It had messed with her daily schedule to go on a workout, but she was more concerned about her sick friend than her physical state. Ryoga did arrive every once in a while like he said, but only stayed a short time each time. Ryoma spent his days napping and only waking up to eat, drink, or use the bathroom.

Ayame's days were stressful. After she had called the Echizens back in Tokyo, word spread around to Ryoma's tennis team about his illness, and they kept calling her to ask how Ryoma was doing (she felt that she was getting a phone call from Tokyo every two minutes). She had to deal with the shopping alone as well as taking care of Ryoma. With everything going on, Ayame had been losing sleep each night and she had been increasingly cranky; over time, she began to look harassed and Ryoma once woke up to see Ayame screaming into a pillow in frustration.

Finally, Ryoma woke up one morning and saw Ayame lying facedown on the ground beside his bed. At first he thought she was dead, given the way she was sprawled on the ground, but the thought was quickly dispelled when she moved.

"Ugh…" Ayame groaned as she began pushing herself up.

 _Ayame…_ Ryoma thought as he saw how exhausted she looked. _You're going this far to take care of me…?_

Ayame drowsily looked up and saw that Ryoma was awake. Without waiting for any response, she checked him and noted that his fever was gone. She felt relieved as she grabbed the cell phone and called the Echizens to let them know.

"Hello?" Nanako's voice had answered.

"Oi, Nanako-san!" Ayame said. "Ryoma's feeling better now. His fever's gone."

"Thank goodness," Ayame heard the relief in Nanako's voice. "Oji-sama was worried about Ryoma-san too. He's been losing sleep lately and has been drinking as well."

 _So he does care after all…_ Ayame thought slyly. _Better make a mental note to kill him the next time for not letting me know earlier that he actually cares. But then again, he jumped into the river to save him when he got swept in…_

"Tell Rinko-san too," Ayame said. "And the old pervert so that he wouldn't commit murder or something insane like that."

"Thank you for letting us know," Nanako said. "Goodbye."

"Oi, Ryoma," Ayame called to her friend after she hung up. "D'you feel like eating something right now?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Ryoma replied. "Just a bit tired."

"That's good," Ayame said as she fixed her messy jet-black hair and picked up her tennis bag.

"Where're you going?"

"Out to exercise. I had to spend the last couple of days looking after you, so my schedule is all messed up. Now that you're feeling a lot better, I'll need to get back to my training."

"Don't you look a bit too tired to go out running?"

"I'm fine. It's just that your friends living in the east pestered me for the past few days asking if you're dead or alive. Now that I told your cousin that you're okay, I think they'll finally shut up now…"

Ryoma watched as Ayame left the room and shut the door with her foot.

 _Thanks… Ayame…_ he thought.

"Get outta my way!" he heard her shout after she slammed the door.

He heard the sounds of Ayame kicking somebody before it was quiet outside. Smiling, he fell back asleep.


	21. Ryoma and Ayame's Rematch

**Chapter 21: Ryoma and Ayame's Rematch**

Ayame strolled down the dirt road through the park. She was going on an early morning stroll before the park gets noisy. As she walked, she was contemplating about her life as well as dwelling on her past.

What was bothering her most was the match she had with Ryoma back before the Nationals had began. It bugged her to not know if she has surpassed Ryoma yet and more than anything at this moment she wanted to know.

 _Back when I used to play with Ryoga, it was true that I was better than Ryoma…_ she thought. _But when we grew up together he was better than me because of my lack of power. And that last match told us that we were evenly tied. But at this point of time it's hard to tell because I've been working on my power and Ryoma learned some new tricks up his sleeve. I guess we'll have to settle it again._

She decided to walk back to the hotel and have some breakfast. As she reached the door to her room, she quietly opened it, got inside, and closed it lightly. Ryoma was still sleeping soundly, and she didn't want to wake him. She had breakfast and then decided to play another match with Ryoma… although it couldn't be now due to the fact that her opponent was still fast asleep.

 _It's this early in the morning…_ she thought as she looked at the clock. _Looks like I'm gonna have to wait for hours for this bastard to wake up._

Ayame began spinning her racket on one finger while waiting. She began counting in seconds how long she could spin the racket before it fell.

 _1050, 1051, 1052…_ Ayame's thoughts went.

Right then, the racket on her finger fell onto the floor.

 _Dammit…_ she thought as she picked her racket back up.

To her surprise, Ryoma had slept through the noise the racket made when it fell. She packed away her racket and decided to just do nothing while she waited for him to wake up.

Hours soon passed. Ryoma finally opened his eyes and he spotted Ayame sitting on a chair pulled up to the window. She was staring out the window with a blank expression, and looked exactly like when she was staring at the clock.

 _She's petrified again…_ Ryoma thought drowsily before closing his eyes.

He fell back asleep and slept for another few hours before waking up again. Ayame was still in the exact same position as when he last saw her. When he realized that, he began to get creeped out.

 _When she was petrified like that, it was only for a few minutes…_ he remembered. _Did she possibly stay like this for this long? Or is she doing this to scare me? Wait… during that time when I was sick, I didn't know how long she was staring at the clock…_

"Oh, you're finally awake?" a voice interrupted Ryoma's thoughts.

He looked to see that Ayame has finally moved and she was looking at him.

"How long have you been sitting there?" Ryoma asked.

"Dunno," Ayame answered with a shrug. "Maybe two hours or so, looking at the time. Anyway, now that you're up, wanna go play a match and finally settle the score?"

Ryoma smirked. "You're on!"

"But first, you gotta change. You don't wanna play in your pajamas, do you?"

Ayame's response caused Ryoma to do a pratfall out of his bed.

"I'll be waiting for you at a tennis court," she said as she picked up her tennis bag and left the room.

Ayame waited and eventually Ryoma showed up. She prepared to serve, psyching herself for another rough match.

"Well then, here I go!" she called as Ryoma noticed that she applied air into her racket.

 _She's already using Gemini…_ he thought.

Ayame served the ball, and Ryoma waited for the fluke balls to come out and pass by. To his surprise, after the ball bounced, the fluke balls surrounded the ball, making it impossible to return.

"Gemini: Defense Formation," Ayame said when she saw the stunned expression on Ryoma's face. "15-0!"

Ayame took another ball and Ryoma saw her prepare another Gemini. It was another defensive Gemini, and again Ryoma had trouble returning it.

"30-0!"

Ayame held serve by continually using the defensive Gemini.

 _She's already going all-out from the beginning…_ Ryoma thought, frustrated.

Ryoma served, and the rally began. Midway through, Ryoma saw Ayame using another Gemini. She then returned the ball, and Ryoma expected a defensive formation. However, to his surprise, the fluke balls flew straight towards him, and he avoided the fluke balls to avoid getting injured.

"Gemini: Attack Formation," Ayame said. "0-15!"

Frustrated, Ryoma hit a Twist Serve, which Ayame easily returned. He kept hitting Twist shots, and Ayame was able to return them.

 _Very clever, Ryoma,_ Ayame thought as the rally went on. _With the ball continually flying at my face, I can't direct my Gemini while I'm struggling to hit the ball back._

Finally, Ryoma used a Drive C.

"15-15!"

 _Damn, if he's gonna use Twist shots like this, I can't use Gemini…_ Ayame thought as she eyed the other court. _And I'm unable to use Gemini at the same time as Ninja Dash._

Ryoma hit another Twist Serve, and Ayame felt frustrated as he sealed her Gemini. She began to use Ninja Dash to catch up to the balls before they hit the ground, in case if Ryoma was planning to hit a Drive C. Ryoma then began hitting shots in the direction away from Ayame.

 _He's trying to make me run around…_ she thought. _He knows my stamina is really good, but if I run way too much then I won't hold out._

Ayame abandoned her idea of using Ninja Dash and instead returned the balls normally. Finally, one of Ryoma's shots came out as a reverse Twist shot.

"30-15!"

 _He can do the backwards Twist as a regular shot?!_ Ayame thought, shocked.

Ryoma continued to overwhelm Ayame until he kept serve. Ayame knew that when she serves, she could use Gemini, and intended to use it to score every time she served. She held serve with her defensive Gemini, and Ryoma held his serves by using Twist shots to prevent her from using Gemini.

* * *

"Game, Ryoma! 6-6! Tiebreak!"

 _Is this going to end up like back then?_ she wondered.

The two freshmen rallied, not giving in. Ayame felt a sense of thrill as she rallied.

 _Even though I want to win, I'm having so much fun…_ she thought.

Right then, both freshmen activated the Tenimuhou no Kiwami at the same time, and it soon dragged out to a high speed rally.

* * *

"243-243!"

The tiebreak had continued for hours and neither freshman had relented. The score soon dragged on into the 300's. Ayame sensed that her stamina is approaching its limit.

 _Dammit…_ she thought. _If I don't end this already, he'll beat me… I don't have much time left…_

Soon enough, Ayame reached her limit and her legs gave in. At that exact moment, Ryoma collapsed on the court. The ball landed on Ayame's side.

"367-367…" Ayame said with reluctance, unsure if Ryoma was listening.

She wasn't sure if Ryoma passed out again, but for all she knew was that this time she managed to stay conscious. She stared at Ryoma and waited. There was no response from the boy. She crawled to the other court.

 _I can't stand…_ she thought. _He reached his limit… Che. Another tie…_

She was about to try to stand until she stopped.

"Oi, wake up, you bastard!" she shouted at him.

 _Geez…_ she thought in exasperation. _He really did fall asleep in the middle of the match…_

She crawled to a bench and sat there until she was able to stand again. Knowing that there was no way she could carry Ryoma with her current condition, she drank the water bottle that she packed and packed away their rackets. She waited until her body was done sweating and she was able to run again.

 _Looks like it's my turn now…_ Ayame thought, remembering when Ryoma carried her because of her twisted ankle.

Ayame scooped Ryoma up onto her back and supported his weight while trying to carry his tennis bag as well as hers. She made her way back to the hotel and plopped Ryoma onto his bed the instant she could.

 _My back hurts…_ she thought as she dropped both tennis bags. _At this rate, will we ever settle the score? Or will we always be bound to be even like this?_

Ayame stopped thinking about the match as she grabbed something to eat. It wasn't until dusk when Ryoma finally regained consciousness. As he dizzily sat up, he recalled what had happened before he blacked out.

"Ayame, who won this time?" he asked when he saw her.

"Unfortunately, we tied again," she answered. "But seriously, Ryoma, you're a really troublesome bastard for falling asleep in the middle of the match the instant my legs reached their limit. You made me carry you back to the hotel and now my back hurts."

"Che."

Though they haven't found out who the better player is, Ryoma was starting to not want to play with Ayame.

 _Her Gemini is seriously annoying…_ he thought.

"Ne," he started. "If you were to use the shuriken Gemini, wouldn't you be the winner anyway?"

Ayame hesitated. She had never used her shuriken Gemini in a match because she doesn't fall so low to severely injure her opponent just to win. Although she has never used it before, she knew it could possibly cause deep cuts, considering that it has slashed open a tennis court fence.

"Yeah…" she finally answered. "But it's not worth injuring you just to win than to not be able to rally with you for maybe a few months or so."

Ayame got up and went to go lie down on her bed.

"Ryoma," she said. "Do you not want to play me anymore?"

Ryoma hesitated. _How could she tell?_

"I figured," Ayame went on as though she was able to tell what he was thinking. "You told me that after you played Rokkaku's freshman, he kept wanting to play with you, but you said no. And I heard from Shitenhouji's bandage guy that the strange freshman kid kept wanting to play you too, but you said no. From what I know, you played annoyingly long and tough matches with both freshmen. And I can tell that you think my Gemini is annoying. So I'm not surprised if you don't wanna play me anymore."

Both freshmen were silent afterward.

"Oh well," Ayame said, getting up. "I'm going to bed."

She went into the bathroom to change and settled back down in bed. Ryoma stared up at the darkness contemplating about the match before changing and going to bed as well.


	22. Showdown with the Clack

**This chapter follows the Prince of Tennis movie "Eikokushiki Teikyuu Shiro Kessen!" so this chapter will be longer than the others.**

* * *

 **Chapter 22: Showdown with the Clack**

Ayame grabbed her cell phone and called a number. She waited a bit before someone on the other end picked up.

"Hello?" a man's voice answered.

"Dad?" Ayame said.

"Oh, Ayame. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing at all."

"So you and Ryoma-kun are doing well. That's great. Anyway, what are you calling me for?"

"Can I go to Wimbledon?"

"Why do you suddenly want to go to Wimbledon?"

"Seigaku contacted us and said that they're gonna play at a tournament in Wimbledon as Japan's representatives and they want Ryoma to come play alongside them. And I want to go to watch them play!"

"I see. Well, you may go, but ask Ryuzaki-sensei if you can go along with the team. I don't want you to go alone."

"Okay!"

"Alright, let me know if anything else happens."

Ayame looked at the clock.

 _It's day over there, so I should be able to contact her,_ she thought.

She then dialed another number. Meanwhile, in Japan, Coach Ryuzaki was in her office, and her phone began to ring. She answered it. "Hello?"

"Is this Ryuzaki-sensei?" Ayame's voice asked on the other end.

"Ah, Ayame! Did Ryoma get the news?"

"He did, but I called to ask if I can ride with the guys to Wimbledon. Dad said that I could go, but I can't go alone, so can I go with the team?"

"Sure. Just don't cause too much trouble for the townspeople over there."

"Arigatou gozaimasu!"

Ayame ended the call and settled back down into bed. She got up early the next morning and packed her bags. While waiting for time to go on, she grabbed one of her books and began reading. Afterward, she stopped reading and went over to Ryoma's bed.

"Ryoma, get up!" she shouted. "You should start packing right now so we won't miss the flight back!"

With that, Ryoma jolted himself awake and got packed and ready to go. The two hurriedly got onto a taxi and went to the airport. They took a flight back to Japan and met up with Seigaku when the plane finally landed and they sprinted to the school.

"Sorry we're late!" Ayame called as they arrived.

"Echizen! Ayame-chan!" Momo said in recognition.

"You're just on time," Tezuka said. "Let's go."

The team along with Ayame went to another airport and got on a flight for Wimbledon. They got onto a bus to check out the Centre Court, and they ran into Hyotei, Shitenhouji, and Rikkaidai. Soon after, the four schools got onto the tennis courts to play matches with each other. Ayame stood alongside the coaches and watched.

"Kanna-chan, do you want to hit a little?" Yukimura asked her.

"Sure," she answered as she and Yukimura went to an empty court.

Ayame rallied with Yukimura and stopped at the same time the rest of the middle schoolers did.

* * *

That evening, Ayame left the residential areas to look for Ryoma. She knew that he was out on a court somewhere rallying with Momo.

As she walked along the roads, she noticed that the lampposts around her were turning off. She felt an ominous presence as she shakily reached for her racket. All of the sudden, five tennis balls were flying at her, and she managed to return all of them. More flew at her, and she realized that she was being attacked.

Ayame began running as she could hear the sounds of people chasing her. She knew that she was outnumbered. As much as she wanted to physically beat up her attackers, she needed to see who they were before she tries to move in for kicking. However, the attackers were hiding behind the foliage and shrubbery so she couldn't see them clearly, but she knew exactly where they were.

A wave of balls came right at her from her left and right. Ayame executed a Ninja Dash and avoided the balls.

 _This would be my first time resorting to this, but it's a life or death situation!_ she thought. _Here I go!_

Ayame tossed a tennis ball and executed a five-ball shuriken Gemini. She heard the fluke shurikens slash the shrubbery, followed by screams of pain after. She hit another five-ball shuriken Gemini as she heard more attackers still on her pursuit. There seemed to be no end to them, so she decided to keep running. She looked back to see a bloodied person lying on the ground, injured from her Gemini. She also glimpsed the person wearing a silver ring.

Ayame ran up to a tennis court and found more of the attackers surrounding it. She looked into the court and saw Ryoma lying defenseless on the ground with the strings on his racket broken. One of the attackers smashed a ball towards Ryoma, and Momo shielded Ryoma by taking the hit. The same attacker was about to smash another ball to Ryoma, and Ayame noticed that he was using a "real tennis ball". As soon as she realized that, she leaped into the court.

"No!" she shouted as she jumped in front of Momo and Ryoma and swung her racket.

The ball made contact with the very center of her racket, as she returned the shot and narrowly missed the attacker, instead hitting the wall and creating a crater with a loud _bang_.

 _Ayame!_ Ryoma realized, recognizing her by her long hair and her miniskirt. _When did she have that much power?!_

 _Sorry, Ryoga, but I had to use that..._ Ayame thought as she felt the sweat on her face.

"You little…" the attacker said angrily.

Ayame was stunned about the fact that the attacker spoke Japanese, which let her guard down, and another real tennis ball was coming right for her. However, this time an older person returned the shot. The person exchanged nasty words with the attacker, surprisingly speaking in Japanese. They both served real tennis balls at each other. The balls made contact with each other, causing an explosion of light. Ayame gaped at the sight.

"Koshimae!" she heard the voice of Kintaro call in the distance.

The attacker looked disappointed and he glared down at Ayame, then to Ryoma.

"Looks like you escaped death this time, kids…" he said before he vanished.

"Echizen! Kanna! Momo!" Ayame heard Oishi's voice call.

Ayame and Ryoma looked around and noticed that the person who saved them disappeared. Soon, they saw the rest of the Japanese showing up as they brought Momo to the hospital.

The next morning, the schools gathered to discuss about the attackers from last night. It was then Ayame heard that Kirihara, Shishido, Choutarou, Tezuka, and Shiraishi were also attacked. However, Tezuka, Shiraishi, and Choutarou made it unscathed just like her and Ryoma.

The teams told each other what they knew. The attackers were around middle school age, and they wore silver rings. They apparently also attacked other foreign countries.

"Ayame, do you know anything about them?" Ryoma asked her.

Ayame didn't answer, but gave Ryoma a look that clearly said " _Why?_ "

"You haven't spoken at all since last night," Ryoma went on. "It's not like you."

"Are you saying that with her strange behavior, she might've known something about them?" Inui asked.

Ayame paid no attention and noticed that Kaidoh was pretty angry that Momo was beaten up and wanted to duke it out with them. Right then, an older boy came up.

"Your opponents aren't people you could take revenge on," the boy said seriously. "Don't get close to them."

The rest of the Japanese were a little alarmed at the person who came up. Ayame recognized him as the guy who saved her last night.

"From last night…" Ryoma also recognized him.

"It was YOU?!" Kaidoh shouted, noticing the silver ring on his arm. "The one who beat up Momoshiro last night?!"

"Senpai, you're wrong!" Ryoma spoke up. "He's the one who saved us last night."

Kaidoh still wasn't satisfied, so the boy played a match with him by borrowing Fuji's racket. As the rally went on, the boy did a gesture that Ayame and Ryoma recognized all at once.

"That's Gemini!" Ryoma exclaimed in recognition.

The other middle schoolers, hearing Ryoma's outburst, stared at him.

"You mean that's the same Gemini that Kanna could use?" Renji asked Ryoma.

"The very same," Ryoma replied.

"EEEEEEEH?!" most of the Japanese were stunned to learn that Ayame's supposed move was also used by a violent group.

All eyes in the audience turned to Ayame, and she noticed, but still remained silent. Kaidoh then lost to the boy. Ryoma, interested that this person was one of the original users of Gemini, got onto the court to play a match with him.

The boy served the ball. The rally went on and the boy used Gemini. Ryoma, already having experienced Gemini from Ayame, easily returns the ball while avoiding the fluke ball. As the game dragged on, Ayame noticed the captains and vice-captains returning. The game eventually went to Ryoma's serve. He started to serve, and suddenly the boy didn't return it.

"My name is Ling Xiu," the boy said. "And your name is…?"

"Echizen Ryoma," Ryoma answered.

"They're pretty skilled," Xiu went on. "You'll understand when they come to annihilate you. But thanks, I had fun."

Xiu turned to leave. Ayame jumped out of the audience stand with the rest of the Japanese as they went up to him.

Shiraishi questioned Xiu about the group that attacked a few of the Japanese, and Xiu said that they were called the Clack. He said they were a street tennis group who go around beating up other tennis players. It consisted of members who lost the right to officially play, and was lead by someone named Keith. Ayame assumed Keith to be the person who tried to finish her off, but was interrupted by Xiu. Xiu then went on to say that they turned up in clubs and schools to beat up the players, even using real tennis balls. He revealed that Keith was targeting the tournament that was going to start in Wimbledon tomorrow.

Atobe questioned Xiu's connection with the Clack as he judged by the uniform and ring. Xiu answered that he had left the Clack. The captains questioned him about the Clack's hideout, and what they got was that it was at a castle called King of Kingdom. It strongly reminded Ayame of somebody she had seen before as she stared at Atobe.

 _I heard that he once lived in England, but… no, it might not be…_ her skeptical thoughts ran.

Xiu then told the Japanese that he wanted to take down the Clack personally, not wanting the police to be involved. Ryoma said to let Xiu do whatever he wanted. Ayame stared at Ryoma.

 _Even though you say that, you want to go after them, do you?_ she thought.

As Xiu left, Yukimura questioned him as to why he wanted to take down the Clack himself. Xiu said that he won't be able to play tennis again, as well as one other. He then left, leaving the Japanese staring. As soon as he was out of sight, all eyes turned to Ayame.

"What?" she asked, finally speaking for the first time ever since last night.

"Kanna, did you know anything about the Clack?" Tezuka asked seriously.

"No," she replied.

"How did you learn how to use Gemini?" Yuushi asked. "If you already knew how to, then you must've known something about the Clack."

"No," Ayame said. "It was a coincidence. Almost a year ago I watched a doubles tournament live on TV held here in England, and Xiu was in it with his friend. His friend just happened to use Gemini, and I thought it was so freaking awesome, so I learned it. Nobody told me that it would've originated from a guy who would eventually be part of a group of gangsters!"

"What happened last night?" Ryoma asked her. "Why didn't you speak up since then up until now?"

"Because when Xiu served that real tennis ball back at the leader, they both used Gemini at the same time," Ayame answered. "I then recognized them as the guys who were playing doubles together from that live match back then, and I was… I guess you could say I was a bit shocked. And Ryoma, I told you that I learned Gemini by watching it! Did you forget or something?!"

Ryoma hesitated. He suddenly remembered Ayame telling him how she learned Gemini.

 _Oh yeah..._ he thought as the memory struck him like a bullet. _She DID tell me..._

The Japanese then left Ayame alone, which made her relieved, as she didn't like to be questioned just because she knows how to use Gemini, and it just so happened to originate from a bunch of gangsters.

* * *

Later on at sunset, the Japanese noticed that Ryoma was missing. Kikumaru and Kawamura went to go search for him, and Ayame joined. However, she headed down the streets and right for a dock to the sea.

 _Well, here goes nothing..._ she thought.

Taking a deep breath, she jumped and started running on water. As she felt her stamina depleting rapidly, up ahead, she saw a boat powered by a motor. Onboard was Xiu and Ryoma, and she caught up to the boat and climbed on.

"A-Ayame?!" Ryoma cried in shock as he recognized her.

"Wasn't that the little girl who was with you?" Xiu asked.

"Yeah," Ryoma answered. "She's my friend. Her name's Kanna Ayame."

"I had a hunch you were gonna do this, bastard," Ayame said to Ryoma as she sat down in the boat.

* * *

The regulars who went to search for Ryoma returned to where the rest of the teams were.

"Did you find him?" Tezuka asked them.

"No, didn't see him anywhere," Kawamura replied.

"Don't tell me ochibi went with Xiu to…?" Kikumaru started, but then stopped.

"Where's Kanna?" Oishi asked. "Wasn't she with you two?"

"Huh?! She really isn't here!" Kikumaru exclaimed.

"Knowing her, she must've chased after Echizen," Fuji said, holding back his amusement at Ayame's concern with Ryoma. "She seems to be the only person who could find him no matter where he is."

"The probability of Echizen heading to the Clack's hideout is 88%," Inui said.

"88.41%," Renji said.

Tezuka then spoke up and said that Xiu had said to wait until morning. So with that, they won't do anything about Ryoma and Ayame's disappearance.

"Tezuka!" Oishi protested, obviously wanting to do something about the freshmen's disappearance, considering that they ran away to take on a dangerous group of gangsters.

"Kanna is with him," Tezuka said. "She is good at self-defense, so they'll be okay."

Even though he had said that to calm down Oishi, Tezuka wasn't sure whether Ayame could take on a gang like that. He had known that Ayame was violent, but only when angered, annoyed, or threatened. Even though she had once caught a criminal, he was still doubtful that she could take on the Clack and make it out alive with Ryoma.

Later, Tezuka left the residential area and headed for the dock. He ran into Atobe along the way.

"Even though you were saying all that," Atobe started. "You're worried about the kid and his girlfriend and decided on going alone? You're quite a crappy captain, ahn?"

Tezuka said nothing, but followed Atobe to the dock, where he had ordered Kabaji to prepare a water scooter. As the two captains were fixing to leave, suddenly Fuji, Shiraishi, Kirihara, and Sanada showed up, wanting to come as well. The problem now is that the water scooter cannot fit everyone. It was almost quickly solved when Higa showed up on a boat, offering to sell it. After a rather dramatic story from Higa about them getting lost at sea and drifting to England, Atobe managed to get the boat, and they used it to ride along the sea to head for the hideout. Along the way, Atobe revealed the hideout to be his former villa in England.

* * *

Ayame tied her hair back to prevent the wind from blowing it into her face. When she was done, she stared beyond the sea at the sunset, trying to take in the beautiful scene while Ryoma stood up, surveying the area.

"Sit down," Xiu warned Ryoma. "An undertow is gonna hit us."

Ryoma didn't heed Xiu's warning, as an undertow caused by another nearby boat hit them and blew his cap away out of his reach. Ayame dropped her tennis bag onto the boat, jumped into the water, started running on it, grabbed the cap, and climbed back into the boat. Catching her breath, she gave the cap back to Ryoma.

"Sankyuu," Ryoma said as he put it back on his head.

"That's why I told you to sit," Xiu said. "But you've got yourself a pretty talented friend for being able to run on the water while carrying a heavy tennis bag like that."

"No, I still have lots more to work on," Ayame said as she picked up her bag, placed it over her shoulder, and sat back down. "By the time I ran here I was almost at my limit just because of the extra weight on my back..."

Ryoma sat down next to Ayame.

"Ayame," he started. "You were hitting a very powerful shot last night. When did you have that much power?"

"Oh, that… the truth is…" Ayame answered hesitantly. "I secretly met up with Ryoga and he taught me that shot. He told me that it was called Destruction, and if you manage to hit the ball in the super sweetspot, then the shot becomes very powerful. It also messes up your internal organs if you get hit by it. But that wasn't my actual power. It's still how you remember it... kinda..."

Ryoma said nothing at that and started talking to Xiu.

"In truth…" he started. "Your body is pretty much in pieces, right? When I kept rallying, I kept thinking that you were hurt in all places."

Xiu recalled that a few nights ago, the Clack had hunted him down in the rain. He had attempted to return a real tennis ball, but it broke his strings and hit him.

"So you knew…" Xiu said. "You came along because you knew I wouldn't be able to take revenge on Keith? Such a sweet kid… Did you know that as well, Kanna?"

"No," she replied. "I can't let Ryoma have all the fun."

Even though Ayame had said that, Xiu knew that she was secretly worried about Ryoma, and that was her motive for coming along.

"I still have to pay back for what they did to Momo-senpai," Ryoma went on. "And besides, Keith said he'd let me live for right now. I'm sorry, but I need to make sure that it isn't the other way around."

"Yeah, same," Ayame said. "Although I think last night when I got attacked I probably killed some members."

"What do you mean?" Xiu asked.

 _She probably started kicking them…_ Ryoma thought.

"Did you hear everyone while you were rallying with Kaidoh-senpai?" Ayame asked. "About me being able to use Gemini as well?"

"Oh, yes," Xiu answered.

"Well, I did learn how to use you Clack folks' Gemini, but I can use it at such an advanced level where I can form the fluke balls into shurikens," Ayame went on. "It's also dangerous, because it's capable of slashing metal. So I used that as a self-defense, and I saw one of the members bleeding."

Ryoma stared at Ayame. As far as he could remember, Ayame had actually never used the shuriken Gemini on a human being. She claimed that she never falls low enough to use it just to win.

 _But then again, she was attacked, so she used it…_ Ryoma reminded himself.

"When did you learn Gemini?" Xiu asked.

"Almost a year ago on TV covering your doubles tournament match," Ayame answered.

Ryoma then began talking with Xiu. Ayame didn't listen in, and instead continued staring into the sunset until they arrived at the small island where the castle was. They entered the grounds and Ayame surveyed the area as they moved along. Ryoma kept talking with Xiu about his connection with the Clack until Ayame heard something whiz through the air. She looked up and saw two real tennis balls flying at her and Ryoma. Before she could react, Xiu had jumped in front and took the balls.

"Xiu!" she and Ryoma cried at the same time.

Xiu got up.

"I'm fine," he said.

Ayame doubted his words, as she figured that taking two hits by a real tennis ball wasn't pretty for the body. They continued walking until they came across some big double doors.

"Once we enter, we cannot go back," Xiu said.

"I'll go back once I beat them," Ryoma said fearlessly.

They pushed open the doors to see a large room separated by metal bars. On the other side was a tennis court drawn in the marble floor. Sitting on a chair outside of the court was the person who attacked them last night, Keith.

"I said I'd let you two live for now, but you're both back for more?" he asked the two Japanese freshmen.

"If you're gonna keep messing with me, I won't let it end easily!" Ayame said fiercely.

Ryoma expected her to run across the court and kick, but to his surprise, she didn't do it. He dismissed the thought and was about to get onto the court until Xiu blocked him.

"I have to do it," Xiu said.

Another Clack member named Peter came up. Ayame recognized him as one of the attackers who chased her all the way to the court where Ryoma and Momo were.

"Your opponent is over here," Peter said. "I'll make it a blood fest, Xiu!"

Before the game could even start, Xiu then collapsed in pain.

"Xiu!" Ryoma said as he bent down to check him.

"The balls he took for us must've taken its toll," Ayame remarked as she dropped her tennis bag and took her racket, gripping it in her left. "I'll take your place for this one."

She stepped onto the court.

"Hey, were you the one who cut some of us?!" Peter demanded.

"So what if it was me?" Ayame asked. "Then I'll make it a REAL blood fest!"

She took off her shirt and miniskirt to reveal her sports clothes underneath, and threw them aside. Peter was about to serve, and Ayame noticed that he was using a real tennis ball to play.

 _She could hit a powerful shot, but that's only if it hits the very center of her racket…_ Ryoma thought. _Is she capable of returning that?_

Peter served, but Ayame returned it at ease.

 _Her power improved by a lot..._ Ryoma thought. _She has been working hard since our last match..._

Peter collected air and applied it into his racket, and Ayame tried to figure out how many fluke balls were coming. As she watched the ball, she saw two fluke balls and avoided them to return the real ball.

"What?!" Peter was stunned that she saw through Gemini.

"Maybe you ought to have a little talk with your leader," Ayame said. "Thank him for using Gemini during a live tournament where the whole world could see and learn the move as well."

"Don't tell me that you could use Gemini too?!" Peter said, irritated to learn that the girl he was playing could use Gemini as well.

Peter reassured himself that Ayame's Gemini wouldn't be at a high level, so he hit another Gemini. Ayame avoided it and returned the shots like normal. Although she was avoiding the Gemini, she was not scoring. Soon, Peter had won a game.

"Game, Clack's Peter!" Peter said and laughed like a maniac.

 _She was observing his level of Gemini…_ Ryoma thought. _He's gonna get it now…_

"OK, I think I'm ready to be serious," Ayame said as she tossed her racket to her right hand. "Ready to die from the wrath of the kunoichi?"

Ayame served, and Peter hit a normal return. Before the ball came to her side, her left hand collected air and she applied it to her racket.

"Take this!" she shouted as she returned the ball.

All at once, ten shuriken-shaped fluke balls came out of the ball, stunning everyone in the room except for Ryoma. Four of the shurikens managed to slash Peter, ripping his clothes and leaving cuts. Finally the ball landed and Ayame scored.

"This is my thank-you for trying to murder me last night," Ayame said, eyeing the bloodied boy lying on the ground.

 _She could already hit ten fluke balls?!_ Ryoma thought in shock.

 _Well I've gone and done it…_ Ayame thought. _I used this in a match and injured somebody. And yet I don't feel the least bit ashamed…_

Right then, Keith stood up and got onto the court, holding the racket in his right hand. Ayame stepped off of the court and stared at Xiu. She and Ryoma knew well that Xiu was in no position to play, as he was unable to serve over the net.

"I understand how you feel now," Ryoma said as he stepped in front of Xiu.

"Wait, Echizen! I should be the one doing his dismissal!" Xiu said.

"Isn't that a little weirdly said?" Ryoma asked as he bent down, causing Ayame to snicker.

Ayame watched as Ryoma reached for Xiu's racket. Xiu begrudgingly allowed him to take it.

"Shall we continue where we left it yesterday?" Ryoma asked.

 _Go for it, Ryoma!_ Ayame cheered silently.

Ryoma and Keith began playing.

 _Echizen is good enough to break through Gemini, but…_ Xiu thought.

Right then, Keith began letting off a glowing light, and Ayame gasped as she recognized it as a move similar to Gemini… except it looked bigger and more dangerous. Keith hit the shot, and the wall of light knocked Ryoma hard into the bars.

"Echizen!" Xiu cried, as Ayame cried out "Ryoma!" at the exact same time.

Ayame ran to Ryoma and checked him.

"He seems to be okay…" Ayame remarked.

"You managed to complete that, Keith?" Xiu asked, staring. "The Bio-Magnetism?"

 _Bio-Magnetism?_ Ayame's thoughts went.

"15-0," Keith announced indifferently.

Ryoma got up and walked back to the court. Ayame heard Xiu warn that Bio-Magnetism is similar to Gemini, but except it releases air that knocks back players like a wall. Keith used the Bio-Magnetism again, knocking Ryoma into the bars again. Ayame ran over to him and noticed that he was in pain. She bent down to check him.

"At this rate his body won't…" Xiu said as he knelt down next to Ryoma.

"Don't worry," Ayame said, and Xiu noticed a glint of belief in her blue eyes. "None of his bones are broken. He's fine."

Ayame had always assured herself that as long as Ryoma didn't suffer broken bones, then he's still okay enough to keep playing. After all, he did once suffer a bloody eye injury and won a match in less than 10 minutes.

"I won't run away," Ryoma said as he put his cap back on his head. "When it finally got interesting and all."

"Ryoma's always like that," Ayame said when she sensed Xiu's shock at Ryoma's stubbornness. "No matter what anybody says or what happens to him, he will never forfeit from a match. No, not even I could stop him, even if I threatened to kick him with my left leg."

Keith hit another Bio-Magnetism, but this time Ryoma crouched and slid through the dome of air to get inside. This shocked Keith, Peter, and Xiu, but on the contrary for Ayame, she was watching in amusement as Ryoma "swam" inside of the dome and returned the ball.

"That was pretty simple," Ryoma said as he straightened his cap.

Keith got angry and this time hit a Bio-Magnetism into the ceiling. The Bio-Magnetism crashed down onto Ryoma, as he got blown around inside of the dome of air. He was slammed against the ground and finally the air dissipated. Ryoma fell to the ground, hurt. Ayame got onto the court and picked up the racket. She waited until Ryoma was able to stand before she handed the racket to him and stepped off the court.

Ryoma provoked Keith before switching to his left hand. He served, and Keith hit a Bio-Magnetism to the ceiling. The air crashed down onto Ryoma. However, Ayame noticed that he was taking in the air and managed to use Bio-Magnetism as well. However, when the ball hit the ceiling, the air dissipated and the ball dropped harmlessly on the other side of the court.

"15-0," Ryoma announced.

"He managed to copy the Bio-Magnetism in such a short time?" Xiu asked in shock.

"That's just like Ryoma," Ayame said. "It doesn't take him long to either adjust to a shot or copy it. This is certainly getting interesting…"

The match then became a war of Bio-Magnetism, as both players continually lobbed it at the ceiling.

 _How long is it gonna last with all that power slamming into it?_ Ayame wondered as she stared at the ceiling.

She realized that the answer was "not that long" as the ceiling began to crack. It then busted as the chandelier began falling… above Ryoma!

"Shit!" Ryoma exclaimed.

"Ryoma!" Ayame shouted as she grabbed her tennis racket and a ball.

She served the ball at the chandelier, but at the same time, seven more balls flew out and hit the chandelier, changing the trajectory of its fall and forcing it to land in front of Ryoma. As the dust cleared, Ayame saw that the balls were hit by Kite, Fuji, Kirihara, Sanada, Atobe, Tezuka, and Shiraishi.

"Yo," she greeted them.

She then looked up at the sky through the broken ceiling.

 _There's no way they could hit a Bio-Magnetism up there,_ she thought as she stared at the starlight.

The match continued as Ryoma began to use Bio-Magnetism to its fullest by concentrating the air behind the ball to accelerate it, and he dominated Keith. Keith revealed that he was a southpaw just like Ryoma when he switched hands.

 _One more Nitouryuu player, huh…_ Ayame thought. _I'm probably the only Nitouryuu player in the middle school tennis world who is right-handed…_

The rally then went on as Ryoma still managed to dominate Keith with little difficulty. As he was about to hit one last powerful Bio-Magnetism shot, Xiu attempted to block the ball with a racket, sending him and Keith crashing into the wall.

 _That's game then…_ Ayame thought, watching the sunrise from the hole in the wall that Ryoma made.

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma said in a somewhat faint voice as he turned to look at Xiu, Keith, and Peter.

He then collapsed, and Ayame caught him before he fell. She heard Tezuka and Fuji run up behind her.

"Wake up, you bastard!" she yelled at Ryoma.

The other tennis players watched in amusement as Ayame continued to get irritated at the sleeping Ryoma who wouldn't wake up. She eventually gave up and settled him onto her back.

"Damn bastard's making me carry him again…" Ayame grumbled. "Just because he fell asleep the second time…"

"Is he alright?" Fuji asked.

"Oh, he suffered getting slammed against those bars over there, but he didn't break any bones," Ayame answered. "I think he's still okay enough to play in the tournament."

Right then, they heard the sounds of a helicopter flying overhead.

"Dorya!" a familiar voice yelled. "Enter Momoshiro Takeshi! Where's the Clack hiding?!"

Ayame looked up to see Momo waving from the helicopter, with Yukimura and Yuushi onboard with him. As the helicopter descended, Momo noticed Ryoma on Ayame's back.

"What happened to Echizen?!" Momo demanded to her.

"Tell him to lose more weight before falling asleep on me!" Ayame answered grumpily as she nearly dropped the deadweight on her back. "I swear he's doing it on purpose to break my back or something, and that's not how a guy should treat a girl, even if they are just friends! At this point I don't even care that he got slammed against a wall twice and against the ground once!"

The Japanese returned back to the area and before they knew it, the tournament was soon starting. Ayame, sitting amidst the audience, watched in excitement as the tournament began.


	23. Ayame's Return to Seigaku

**Chapter 23: Ayame's Return to Seigaku  
**

Ayame picked up her tennis bag. "Well, I'm going."

"See you until next time," Ryoma said and watched her as she left the hotel room.

Ayame walked outside and took a taxi to the airport. She took a flight to Tokyo and spent her entire flight time reading a book she packed in her tennis bag. The plane eventually landed in Tokyo, and Ayame made her first stop: her house.

Takeda was glad to see his daughter again, and Ayame filled him in on what she has been doing in America with Ryoma (though she was careful to leave out the part where she was involved in a gang war just to rescue a kitten). Before she left her house, she packed some new books and left out some of her old ones at home.

Ayame walked down the road and stopped by the Echizens. After giving Nanjiroh a good kicking when she saw him reading his porno magazines, she filled Rinko and Nanako in on what she had been doing with Ryoma. Before she left, she went to go see Karupin, despite the fact that she isn't really fond of him anymore, since he gave her enough trouble that is worth twelve headaches.

Ayame strolled down the familiar street and eventually arrived at Seigaku. She walked around the corner to the tennis courts and saw that the boys' tennis club was doing a running exercise. A few of the members were lying on the ground, and Ayame assumed that it was done by the works of Inui Juice, as she also noticed a pitcher of the ominous liquid sitting on the table next to a set of cups nearby. She watched as the club members fell victim to the Inui Juice one by one as the laps dragged on while tying her hair back.

Soon, only the regulars were running around the court, and she started running in front of them when they ran their next lap.

"Mada mada dane!" she called as she looked over her shoulder.

Right away, the stunned cries of "Kanna?!" and "Where the hell did she come from?!" rang out from the team. The regulars, after recovering from the shock of Ayame's sudden appearance, ran faster, determined to not let a first year girl (who is running at an abnormal speed for someone carrying a heavy tennis bag) pass them up. Ayame constantly stayed a step ahead of the regulars and was first to complete the last lap, and the rest of the regulars finished all at once after her. However, Inui decided to make all the regulars drink the Inui Juice, as Ayame was first to finish and the regulars were last. Ayame stared as most of the regulars screamed in agony from the drink while wondering why Inui forced them to drink it anyway.

 _I wasn't even a part of this…_ she thought. _I just joined in so that I can get a little workout. Oh… well of course Inui-senpai would want them to drink it. It's a sadist's pleasure after all…_

Ayame stared down at the regulars who were "killed" by the Inui Juice. Almost immediately after, many of the members started firing her with questions.

"What are you doing here?"

"How's Echizen?"

"What's Echizen been doing lately?"

"Did Ryoma-kun learn any new moves?"

"Did you and Echizen play a match with each other yet?"

"Why the hell does everyone ask me about Ryoma the instant I come back?!" Ayame shouted in annoyance, silencing the members. "You should think about me too! Just kidding."

At her sudden change in mood from angered to calm, nearly every club member did a pratfall, minus the stoic buchou and the team's tensai.

"Why did you come back?" Oishi asked.

"I wanted to play matches with you boys," Ayame answered.

"Play a match with you? This will be interesting…" Fuji remarked.

"Oi, Tezuka-senpai!" Ayame called. "It's okay for me to play matches with you guys, right?"

"Fine," Tezuka answered.

"OK, who wants to play me first?" Ayame called out.

She waited for an answer until Momo went up.

"I'll play you," Momo said.

Ayame and Momo got onto a court with Oishi as the referee.

"One set match! Momo to serve!"

"I know that you could play evenly with Echizen, so I'm going all-out!" Momo said.

Momo hit his Bullet Serve, but Ayame reacted fast and returned it by catching up to it with her Ninja Dash. Momo hit a cross court shot away from Ayame, and she tried to catch up to it without using her Ninja Dash, but this caused her to hit a lob.

 _It's coming!_ she thought as she watched Momo perform a mighty leap.

Momo smashed the ball with his Dunk Smash. However, Ayame ran up and used a familiar move, causing the ball to land at the baseline.

"Ki-Kirin Otoshi?!"

"0-15!"

"Geez," Ayame groaned as she stared at her racket and began muttering under her breath. "I had to try to use that or else I couldn't have returned that. Not even Higuma Otoshi would work, considering that Momoshiro-senpai's power broke through four-eyes' Higuma Otoshi... It's a lot harder than it looks…"

Momo hit a Bullet Serve, and Ayame returned it. The two rallied and it had been lasting for a long while.

"Kanna-chan hasn't been moving from that spot," Kawamura remarked.

"Tezuka Zone!" Ayame heard the Freshmen Trio exclaim.

"My version is called Kunoichi Zone, not Tezuka Zone!" Ayame shouted at them furiously as she returned the balls.

She closed her eyes as she easily returned the balls.

"She's playing with her eyes closed?!"

"A-amazing!"

"Kanna's that good?!"

Momo was unable to break through the Kunoichi Zone, so Ayame broke serve. She then hit a defensive Gemini, and Momo couldn't break through the fluke balls.

"15-0!"

"This time she's using Gemini…" Inui said. "The move that originated from the Clack…"

* * *

"Game, Kanna! 2-0!"

Ayame continued using the Kunoichi Zone to try to break serve, but then Momo hit a Jack Knife, blowing away her racket. She opened her eyes.

"15-0!"

 _Shit!_ Ayame realized as she stared at her right hand.

She picked up her racket and this time held it in her left hand, causing an explosion of comments from the audience.

"She's a Nitouryuu player?!"

"She's a lefty just like Echizen?!"

"No way! She's always been playing with her weak hand up until now?!"

"Shut your traps!" Ayame shouted, startling the audience and silencing them. "I'm right-handed! Hurry up and play!"

Momo served, and Ayame began hitting left-handed forehands. The club members were stunned to find out that Ayame was a Nitouryuu player, with the exception of the regulars. Only the regulars had known that she was a right-handed Nitouryuu player, since Ryoma mentioned that fact to them a few days after his match with her when they interrogated him about her. Although Ayame was playing left-handed at this point, she was still able to keep up a rally with Momo.

 _All that Nitouryuu training really paid off…_ Ayame thought.

Unlike most Nitouryuu players, Ayame had spent some time concentrating on her left-handed play. She had originally trained her left hand in order to simulate a left-handed player in order for Ryoma to get used to playing against them (as Nanjiroh would never play left-handed with Ryoma, Ayame was more than happy to play left-handed to train with Ryoma). As in result, her left hand is nearly equal to her right, but the difficulty of using her weaker hand still shows, as she is not able to pull off all her moves with it; she is also unable to use Ryoma's moves with her left hand.

"Oi, she could still use the Kunoichi Zone with her weaker hand?" someone asked when the rally had been going on for a while and it was obvious that Ayame hadn't moved a step from her spot.

Momo soon noticed, and used the Jack Knife to blow the racket out of her hand.

"30-0!"

"Why is she playing with her weaker hand?" Kaidoh wondered.

"That Jack Knife that Kanna tried to return left her right hand numb," Inui answered after he observed Ayame. "She's playing left-handed until her right hand recovers."

* * *

"Game, Momo! 1-2!"

Ayame served, this time adding the ball with a five-ball Gemini. Before Momo could react and swing his racket, the five fluke balls emerged from the tennis ball. The fluke balls knocked the racket out of Momo's hands before the ball landed.

"15-0!"

"Don't forget that I can still use Gemini with my weaker hand!" Ayame called when she saw the look of surprise on Momo's face.

With her Gemini, she managed to hold serve. It was then she finally switched back to her right hand. Momo served, and Ayame returned the serve as they kept up a rally. Midway through it, Ayame started sliding along the ground and she leaped up to hit the ball. The ball bounced in a B-shape.

"That's Echizen's Drive B!" she heard a club member exclaim.

"0-15!"

"I can use some of Ryoma's moves," Ayame said, ignoring the stares. "Though some of them are just incomplete versions."

Ayame stunned the audience as she showed off that she was able to use more of Ryoma's moves such as Drive A and a weaker version of Cyclone Smash.

* * *

"Game and match, Kanna! 6-3!"

"No way! Kanna defeated Momoshiro?!"

"She's that good?!"

 _I thought those idiots would get it…_ Ayame thought. _I mean, I DID play evenly against Ryoma and I'm pretty sure they all saw that…_

"Ne," she called over to the regulars watching outside of the court. "Who wants to play me next?"

"Wait, are you sure you could play another?" she heard someone ask her.

"I'm fine," she answered. "Just somebody enter the court already."

"I'll play you," Kikumaru got onto the court.

"You could bring Oishi-senpai if you want," Ayame said.

"Don't tell me…"

"She wants to play the Golden Pair?"

"There's no way she could win by herself!"

After a somewhat long argument plus a few threats to beat up a few members, the game eventually started with Tezuka judging.

"One set match! Kanna to serve!"

 _I've never played against a doubles team alone, but it's a good way to see how well I've progressed…_ Ayame thought as she bounced the ball.

Ayame tossed the ball and served. Oishi prepared to return the ball, but the ball bounced in the opposite direction.

"15-0!"

"What was that serve?!"

 _Oh, right…_ Ayame thought. _By the time those idiots showed up for their morning practice I stopped using the reverse Twist against Ryoma, so they don't know about this move…_

"Twist Serve!" Ayame announced.

"Twist Serve?!"

"It can go backwards like that?!"

Ayame served again, but this time she hit a forward Twist Serve, which Kikumaru couldn't return.

"30-0!"

Ayame alternated between both directions of the Twist Serve, holding her serve. However, before the next game started, Ayame noticed something.

 _Are they activating Synchro already?!_ she thought in shock. _I'm gonna get crushed!_

"There it is! Synchro!" she heard the Freshmen Trio shout.

"I see how it is," Ayame sighed as she put on a smile.

Right then, she began shining a blinding light.

" _You still have lots more to work on,_ " Ayame said as her hair began to spike up.

"N-no way! Kanna is also using the Tenimuhou no Kiwami?!"

"She even spoke like Echizen when he uses the Muga no Kyouchi!"

Ayame copied and used Kikumaru's Seal Step for "one-man doubles" (though she called it "one-woman doubles").

"Now, shall we play doubles?" Ayame asked.

It then became a fierce rally between Ayame and the Golden Pair, to see which is better: Synchro or Tenimuhou no Kiwami.

* * *

"Game and match, Kanna! 7-6!"

The power of Tenimuhou no Kiwami dissipated from Ayame's body, causing her to collapse from the sudden loss of energy.

"Oi, Kanna! Are you alright?!" she heard somebody call.

Ayame heard the sounds of running feet coming onto the court.

"I'm fine, you don't have to cry over me," she said, pushing herself up.

"We weren't even crying over you!" Momo shouted in annoyance at her.

"So does that mean you're better than ochibi?" Kikumaru asked.

"No," Ayame answered. "We're still even. We've been playing serious matches in America, and so far we each have 10 wins and 10 losses… in tiebreak style."

 _Not to mention when he almost broke my wrist when I tried to return his Cyclone Smash..._ Ayame thought grimly.

"I've got some interesting data…" Inui remarked as he wrote in his journal.

If Inui was smarter, he would've known better to keep the journal away, as Ayame got up and pounced on him like a cat catching a mouse. She stole the journal away and tore it to pieces. Inui gaped in shock at the sight of his precious data ripped apart. The other club members watched in stunned silence. Nobody had ever dared to try to defy Inui and destroy his data just like that, and Ayame was the first person to accomplish that feat.

"Geez," Ayame sighed, exasperated at the sight of the club members staring at her like as if she was an anatomy model counting its own parts. "I wish you boys would stop staring at me already…"

Inui went pure white and finally he fell to the ground.

"Ahhhh! Inui passed out!" Oishi exclaimed.

"Getting his data torn up by Ayame-chan was that much of a shock to him?!" Momo shouted in surprise.

Ayame turned her head to Tezuka.

"Tezuka-senpai," she started. "Tomorrow can I play you?"

Her question caused an explosion of comments from the tennis club.

"Oi! Is she serious about playing Tezuka-buchou?"

"Hah! Kanna wouldn't stand a chance against the buchou!"

"Yeah, there's no way she would win!"

"You fool! Didn't you see her using Tenimuhou no Kiwami?! She beat the Golden Pair, even though they used Synchro! She might be able to beat the buchou!"

Ayame ignored all the comments and didn't take her eyes off of Tezuka.

"Fine," Tezuka answered after a long moment of staring into her soul.

"Well, I guess I'll be taking my leave then," Ayame said as she packed away her racket, picked up her tennis bag, and walked away.

She left the campus and went straight to the Echizens. There she went to the court at the back of the temple and began doing a self-rally.

 _I've got to master these in case if I have to use them…_ she thought to herself as she ran back and forth between both sides of the court.


	24. Ayame vs Tezuka

**Chapter 24: Ayame vs Tezuka**

An uneasy silence hung over the court as the tension began to grow heavy. It was like as though everyone was holding their breaths, expecting something out of the ordinary to happen. No one took their eyes off the sight of the twelve year old girl and Seigaku's captain staring at each other from opposite sides of the court.

Ayame narrowed her eyes as she gave off a glare that looked very much like Ryoma's _San Paku Gan_. She kept her gaze fixed on Tezuka as he bounced the ball. Finally, Tezuka stopped bouncing the ball as he tossed it into the air and served. Ayame returned the serve and the rally began. She immediately started applying air into her racket.

"There it is! Gemini!" she heard the Freshman Trio exclaim.

Ten fluke balls came out of the ball that Ayame returned. They flew towards Tezuka and he narrowly avoided the fluke balls as he returned the ball and Ayame didn't react on time.

"15-0!"

Tezuka served again, and Ayame returned the serve. He then used a drop shot, and Ayame remembered Ryoma warning her about Tezuka's Zero-Shiki Drop Shot. She then used Ninja Dash and smashed the ball before it fully passed the net.

"15-15!"

"She's pretty good," Inui remarked as he started jotting down in a brand new notebook. "Kanna used her dash to catch up to the Zero-Shiki Drop shot before it landed."

Tezuka and Ayame rallied again, and Ayame noticed that he wasn't moving from the baseline.

 _He's using his Zone this time, huh..._ she thought. _Sorry, Tezuka-senpai, but that old pervert showed me how to counter a Zone when I used mine to try to beat him._

After Ayame returned the ball, she ran up to the net. When the ball was coming to her, she hit a cord ball, messing with the ball's spin.

"She broke it!" she heard somebody exclaim.

Tezuka caught up to the ball before it was able to bounce a second time. Ayame used her offensive Gemini, and Tezuka narrowly avoided the fluke balls as he returned the ball.

"30-15!"

 _Damn…_ Ayame's mind swore. _I'm too used to having my Gemini formations instantly score… I gotta pretend that Tezuka-senpai will return every shot…_

Ayame continually attempted to use different kinds of Gemini, with the exception of her shuriken Gemini. Tezuka managed to counter her Gemini styles easily.

"Game, Tezuka! 1-0!"

 _Damn, seems like Gemini won't work on him…_ she thought grimly. _It worked great against Ryoma but maybe not Tezuka-senpai…_

Ayame switched to her left hand.

"Kanna switched to her left hand! That means…"

"Twist Serve!" the Freshmen Trio hollered.

Ayame served, and Tezuka expected a Twist Serve. However, rather than bouncing towards his face, it bounced in the reverse direction.

"15-0!"

 _It must be out of habit to see a regular Twist Serve…_ Ayame thought. _I've seen that since Ryoma mostly played right-handed players, he usually uses the Twist with his right. But since my dominant is right, and Tezuka-senpai's is left, I guess the first thing to assume is that I'll use a forward Twist._

"Remember that you're playing me, not Ryoma!" Ayame called.

Ayame served with her left hand again.

"There it goes! Twist Serve!" she heard the Freshman Trio shout.

Tezuka returned Ayame's forward Twist, and she quickly changed to her right hand as she moved in to the net. She returned the ball, and it didn't bounce as it curved around on the court.

"30-0!"

"Was that the COOL Drive?!" a club member asked.

"No, that was Drive C!" Ayame called back.

Ayame served, this time hitting a ten-ball Gemini. Tezuka avoided the ten balls as he returned the shot. They both rallied until Tezuka accidentally hit a lob. Ayame let out a tremendous leap and she smashed the ball. Tezuka managed to reach the ball before it landed, but when his racket made contact with it, the intense spin on the ball flew towards his face. Tezuka narrowly avoided it as it missed his face and it landed on the ground.

"40-0!"

"That's Echizen's COOL Drive!"

Ayame hit a regular serve, and the rally went on. Midway through it, Ayame hit a drop shot, revealing it to be Zero-Shiki Drop Shot.

"Game, Kanna! 1-1!"

"Even the Zero-Shiki Drop Shot?!"

"Is she a copy genius or something?!"

"No," Ayame said aloud. "It's just that I already learned the mechanics of the shot when Tezuka-senpai kept using it!"

 _But I'm not gonna kill my arm like he does..._ Ayame thought.

Tezuka activated the Saikikanpatsu no Kiwami.

"This will end in 55 shots!" he announced as he served.

Ayame recalled Tezuka's match against Chitose to remind herself what the Saikikanpatsu no Kiwami did, as Ryoma never used it against her. As the rally went on, the predicted number of shots drew close, and eventually the 55th shot was reached.

"15-0!"

Tezuka predicted 43 shots next.

"30-0!"

Ayame rallied in frustration as the predicted number of shots gradually decreased each time Tezuka got a point.

* * *

"Game, Tezuka! 5-1!"

Tezuka had easily won four games off of Ayame with the Saikikanpatsu no Kiwami as well as some Tezuka Phantoms when she was fixing to break the absolute prediction.

 _He's been using the Tezuka Phantom for all this time…_ Ayame thought. _I don't think he'll use his Zero-Shiki Serves unless he wants to go back to rehabilitation…_

She watched as Tezuka prepared to serve.

 _Tezuka-senpai is amazing…_ she thought. _But… I won't let it end that easily!_

Before Tezuka tossed the ball, Ayame started shining an intensely bright light.

" _You still have lots more to work on,_ " Ayame said as her hair began to spike up.

"Tenimuhou no Kiwami!"

"She's finally activated it at last."

* * *

"Game, Kanna! 6-5!"

"She's gonna use a Twist at this time, even though it doesn't work?!"

Ayame bounced the ball a couple of times before she tossed the ball. She served, and the ball sailed over the net. Tezuka prepared to return it, but when the ball landed, an explosion of dust kicked up, obscuring Tezuka's vision with the ball. Tezuka struggled to find where the ball is, but then suddenly the ball flew out of the dust and went straight for his face. He blocked his face as the ball knocked his racket out of his hands.

"15-0!"

"Wh-what was that serve just now?"

"Smoke Bomb," Ayame announced.

"The amount of spin that Kanna puts on the ball causes dust to rise as soon as the ball lands," Inui noted as he began writing in a notebook. "She also uses the spin very similarly to a Twist Serve."

Ayame hit a left-handed serve again, using her Smoke Bomb. Tezuka prepared to return it like as though he was returning a Twist Serve, but still had difficulty returning the shot.

"30-0!"

Ayame then switched to her dominant hand and served. Tezuka prepared to return, but to his surprise, it was a Smoke Bomb serve, and when the dust cleared, the ball flew in the opposite direction.

"40-0!"

"She could use it like a reverse Twist?!"

 _I saw a high schooler hit this shot…_ Ayame thought. _He hit it as a return rather than a serve… but I could only do it as a serve… If only I can learn how to do a Twist Smash like Ryoma, then I could hit it as a regular shot…_

Ayame bounced the ball several times before she served. It was a normal serve, though, and Tezuka returned it. Ayame rushed up to the net and smashed the ball. It made contact with the very center of her racket, and she had used the Ninja Dash away from the net. As soon as the glowing ball hit the ground, it made a loud _bang_ and it kicked up a lot of dust. When the dust cleared, a crater formed around the spot where the ball landed.

"G-game and match, Kanna. 7-5."

"No way! Tezuka-buchou lost?"

"He even lost to a first year girl!"

"Kanna is terrifying…"

"Did you see that power?"

"Ne," Ayame started. "I can never hit a powerful shot like that. Instead I was taught how to hit it by Ryoma's aniki."

Ayame's revelation caused the non-regulars to drop their jaws to the ground as they stared at her.

"Echizen/Ryoma-kun has an aniki?!" they exclaimed in shock at her.

"Half brother is more like it," Ayame said. "Ask the regulars about Echizen Ryoga and they might tell you everything. Don't ask me."

She packed away her racket and went up to Tezuka.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Tezuka-senpai," she said, bowing. "For the match, that is."

Ayame picked up her tennis bag and walked out of the courts. She was about to pass by the front gates, but then she saw Sakuno emerge around the corner, looking nervous. Sakuno had wanted to personally ask her how Ryoma was doing, but was afraid that she would tease her.

Back when Ayame attended Seigaku, she would sometimes catch Sakuno alone with Ryoma. Sakuno would act embarrassed and awkward when Ayame caught her, and the first time, it took Ayame only half a second to realize that Sakuno has a crush on Ryoma. Seizing her chance, Ayame would playfully tease Sakuno about her feelings almost every time she saw her. Ayame had no comments about Sakuno's relationship with Ryoma (other than "Poor girl. Ryoma's too oblivious to pay attention."), as she herself had no feelings for Ryoma (her vehement denies made many people think otherwise, though in reality she was telling the truth, and she was fed up with people not getting the message), and she only regarded him as her best friend rather than a love interest. Instead she saw it as a chance for a teasing victim (though she wouldn't have seen it that way if a certain older Echizen boy hadn't influenced her very early in her life).

Ever since Sakuno heard from the tennis team that Ryoma had caught a cold and Ayame was left to take care of him, she had been worried about Ryoma ever since. Even though it was over a week ever since the incident and Ryoma had been well, Sakuno couldn't help worrying, considering that only Ayame was there to deal with him and she's only twelve, and that they weren't with an adult.

"A-ano… K-Kanna-san…" Sakuno started.

"What is it, Ryuzaki?" Ayame asked.

"Ano…" Sakuno hesitated as she started blushing.

"Don't tell me," Ayame said abruptly. "It's about Ryoma, isn't it?"

Ayame gave Sakuno a sharp look. Sakuno's cheeks became a darker shade of red when she looked into Ayame's melting gaze.

"I knew it," Ayame went on, putting on a smirk that looked a lot like Ryoma's when he was mocking an opponent. "I'm not surprised. Since you're asking me about your boyfriend, he's okay. I hope you weren't staying up late at night thinking one day he's sick, the next day he's dead."

Sakuno couldn't take the teasing any longer, and she ran off, embarrassed.

 _For crying out loud…_ Ayame thought as she watched the girl run off. _Why is everyone always like Ryoma this and Ryoma that? I'm a human being too… They must be really lazy people if all you have to do is take a flight to New York, wait while riding the plane, take a taxi to the hotel, and go up to our hotel room…_

Ayame was about to leave until another voice called to her.

"Kanna!" it called.

She turned around to see the Freshman Trio.

"Don't tell me that you guys want to ask me about Ryoma…" Ayame muttered under her breath.

"Kanna-san, is Ryoma-kun okay?" Kachirou asked.

 _Of course,_ Ayame thought in exasperation. _Why did you expect something different, Ayame?_

"I can tell you guys been worrying your head off about him too," Ayame said. "Yes, he's fine. You don't have to worry about him since I'm with him. Now quit asking me about him before I snap."

With that, she turned around and left the front gate.

 _Damn you, Ryoma…_ she swore in her mind. _Why do you have to be so popular to the point where I'd get bugged about you every single time?_

* * *

 **Ayame's Smoke Bomb is actually a variation of the move Vanish, used by Hakamada Izou in _New Prince of Tennis_. She cannot create a sandstorm like the original Vanish could, her shot has significantly less power (due to her being female, her power cannot compete against most male players), and she is only limited to hitting it as a serve.**


	25. The Festival Disaster

**Chapter 25: The Festival Disaster**

Ayame ran down the streets and ended up in front of Rikkaidai Fuzoku. She heard that the school was holding the Ocean Festival, and she wanted to go see.

 _It's not bad…_ she thought as she walked past the gate and entered the festival grounds.

Ayame began to explore the festival as she browsed the stands and eventually entered the school. She walked down the third year hall and peeped inside one of the rooms. She immediately spotted Sanada, Yagyuu, and Yukimura talking with a familiar boy.

 _M-Momoshiro-senpai is here too?!_ she thought in shock.

Ayame stayed out of sight and eavesdropped. She heard the middle schoolers discuss about a play that was being held by Rikkai's tennis regulars.

 _A play?_ Ayame thought, interested. _They seem so serious on the court, but are they really doing a play?_

Ayame went to the auditorium and took a seat. She grabbed a book from her tennis bag and started reading to pass the time. Minutes passed, and soon a half hour passed.

 _Why haven't they started yet?_ Ayame wondered.

"May I have your attention please?" Yukimura's voice announced on the auditorium's loudspeaker. "We are dealing with a certain difficulty at the moment, so the play will be delayed."

 _I wonder what kind of difficulty?_ Ayame decided to investigate.

She snuck backstage and ran into Yukimura.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Ah, hello there, Kanna-chan," Yukimura greeted her. "Akaya won't come out of the toilet because he's playing the main role of Cinderella. We've tried everything to get him to come out, but it's not working. Perhaps you can try?"

Ayame started laughing. She personally had never seen Cinderella, but knew that it revolved around a girl wearing a dress. The thought of Kirihara wearing a dress was too good for her.

"Wait…" Ayame said suddenly, as another thought came to her and she stopped laughing. "So you're telling me to walk into the boys' bathroom and get him to come out? No way! I ain't walking into the boys' bathroom!"

Yukimura sighed and went into the bathroom. Ayame followed him, but she stayed outside.

"Looks like we might not be able to do it," Yukimura told the regulars and Momo gathered around the stall regretfully. "Kanna-chan's refusing to help."

"Eh? Ayame-chan is here too?" Momo asked. "I thought she was still in Tokyo."

"We're out of time," Renji said. "We should've started already, but we're being delayed because of this."

Ayame had heard everything that the boys inside of the bathroom said. She believed that removing Kirihara from the toilet would be a piece of cake, if only that this wasn't a boys' bathroom. But on the other hand, she really wanted to see Kirihara wearing a dress, so she pushed all her doubts aside.

"Oh, come on!" Ayame called, exasperated. "Just leave it to the professional!"

Ayame entered the bathroom, pushed past the crowd of regulars, and went as close as she could to the door while being out of range if the door were to be opened. Before any of them could open their mouth to tell the young girl that she was walking into the boys' bathroom, she had already started talking.

"Oi, is it true that the seaweed head locked himself up because he has to wear a dress?" Ayame spoke at a slightly higher volume than normal. "He must be a real chicken to not wanna do this, so he's juuuuust running away!"

"Ayame-chan, you sound a bit like Echizen," Momo remarked.

"So she's trying to provoke him out…" Bunta remarked.

"But no matter how simple Akaya is, there's n—" Jackal started.

"I'LL DO IT!" Kirihara interrupted, suddenly pushing the door open, his eyes bloodshot. "DRESS OR WHATEVER, I'LL WEAR IT!"

There was a long moment of silence as everyone stared at Kirihara. Ayame held back her laugh at the sight of him wearing the dress while wondering why he hadn't noted that she was in the boys' bathroom.

"He fell for it so easily…" Renji commented.

"He's more of a simpleton than I thought," Bunta remarked.

"I'm a genius, after all!" Ayame said smugly, causing Bunta to glare at her in annoyance, since she stole his line. "Just kidding. All the credit goes to Ryoma. Make sure of that. If I never grew up with him, I probably wouldn't have found the right words. But anyways, I'M GETTING THE HELL OUTTA HERE BECAUSE THIS IS A FREAKING BOYS' BATHROOM AND I'M A GIRL!"

Ayame fled from the bathroom as the rest of the boys stared at her, startled at her sudden mood swing. She went back to her seat and Momo sat next to her. The play finally started, and Ayame had to hold back her laugh when she saw that Yagyuu and Bunta were also wearing dresses (they were playing the roles of the mean, ugly stepsisters of Cinderella). She watched as Niou played the role of the mushroom vendor, Jackal played the role of a horse, Sanada played the role of the prince, and Renji played the role of the butler.

 _Damn… they are actually good at acting…_ Ayame thought.

The play soon went into an intermission. Ayame grabbed a book from her bag to pass by time again. Before the time of when the play resumes, Yukimura got onto the loudspeaker.

"Presently an accident occurred," he announced. "Please enjoy this until we'll start again."

Niou and Yagyuu then got onto the stage to do some skits. Ayame looked over to the side of the stage and noticed Yukimura beckoning her to get backstage. She got up and obeyed.

"What's going on?" Ayame asked. "Why do you want me back here?"

"The dress ripped," Yukimura answered. "With the leftover fabric we have, the dress can only fit you, Kanna-chan."

"What are you getting at?" Ayame asked, nervous about what she thought was coming.

"Can you please fill in the role?" Yukimura asked. "You have no lines. All you have to do is support Sanada."

"Why?!" Ayame asked, having the expression like as though she was sentenced to death.

"Ayame-chan, you're a girl," Momo pointed out. "There shouldn't any problems with you wearing the dress! And you'll look cute with it on!"

"No!" Ayame refused flatly.

"Why not?" Momo asked.

"I don't wanna do it!" Ayame said adamantly. "I suffer from stage fright!"

She knew it was a lie. Ayame does not suffer from stage fright, but she just didn't want to get involved. She hoped that it was a good enough reason for her to not be involved.

"Please," Yukimura begged. "I earnestly want everyone to enjoy this. With that thought in mind we came this far. I want to make this play succeed no matter what! Please, do it."

"Fine," Ayame sighed, reminding her when she gave in to Karupin. "But I'm doing it just for you."

Momo went back to his seat as the play resumed to the wedding scene. He then took out a cell phone and started calling someone.

"Hello?" a young boy's voice drowsily answered.

"Oi, Echizen!" Momo said. "Ayame-chan is doing the Cinderella play for Rikkaidai!"

"Is that so? Why Rikkaidai?"

"They're doing the play at their Ocean Festival! You didn't tell me that she's really good at acting!"

"Oh…"

"She's getting to the part where she has to kiss Sanada-san!"

"Wait, did you say kiss?!" Ryoma sounded wide awake now.

"Yeah!"

"You better stop her now!" Ryoma spoke with barely suppressed urgency. "If she has to kiss, she's gonna snap!"

"What are you say—?"

Momo was interrupted by a violent noise of somebody kicking, and he looked up to see that Ayame had delivered a left-footed kick on Sanada's face.

"You didn't tell me that this play has this sort of scene…" Ayame hissed to Sanada in an undertone as she gave him a death glare that was worth five of Ryoma's _San Paku Gan_ s.

 _If I had a choice, I'd rather walk into the boys' bathroom!_ she thought fiercely as her instincts began to kick up inside of her.

Ayame proceeded to beat up Sanada.

"I changed my mind! I am not marrying this lovesick prince!" she shouted as she beat up Sanada.

"See?" Ryoma said through the phone, as he heard the commotion. "But I have to say, she's pretty good at ad-libbing."

Kirihara held back his laugh at the sight of his scary fukubuchou getting wrecked by Ayame. It wasn't every day you get to see Sanada overpowered by anybody physically, especially if it was by a twelve year old girl, so Kirihara enjoyed the scene while he could.

Ayame ran offstage and stripped the dress to go back to wearing her normal clothes as she started running down the halls of the school like as if she was being chased by a group of serial killers.

"Oh yeah, you said that this play was held at a festival at Rikkai, right?" Ryoma asked Momo through the phone. "I wish I stopped her then."

"What do you mean by that, Echizen?" Momo asked.

"Ayame's idea of fun in a party is to start a ruckus," Ryoma answered, yawning. "Once she starts, it's hard to stop her because she starts it in a way where no one would suspect her unless they knew her well. Anyways, it's still late over here and you woke me up. I'm going back to sleep."

Ryoma hung up and lay back down in bed. He recalled that the other day he was passing by a dance club, but he noticed that the entrance door was ripped off of one of the hinges. As he peered inside of the building, he saw ruined speakers and other broken objects everywhere. There were injured people lying unconscious on the ground, but there was only one person still standing in the room: Ayame. Ayame had greeted Ryoma happily, and explained that she managed to get two guys fight each other, which caused chaos to break into the room.

 _I hope Rikkai is prepared for what she's gonna do this time…_ Ryoma thought as he closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber. _I can't even remember how many ruined festive places I've passed by that had Ayame involved…_

Momo then ran backstage.

"Yukimura-san, where did Ayame-chan go?" Momo asked.

"I'm not sure," Yukimura answered. "Is Kanna-chan always like this?"

"No, but I think it's gonna get even worse!" Momo said. "I was talking to Echizen a second ago, and he said that Ayame-chan's idea of fun in a party is to start a ruckus!"

Right then, there was a commotion outside.

"It probably started," Momo said, staring at the direction of the exit. "We have to stop her before things get out of hand."

It was then the Rikkai tennis regulars along with Momo went out to go hunt down Ayame and tame her before the festival breaks into chaos.

"The probability of catching Kanna before the festival gets out of hand is 0.73%," Renji stated.

"For real?!" Kirihara exclaimed.

"Kanna-chan is very fast at running," Yukimura said. "She moves like a ninja. That's why it'll be very hard to catch her."

"She was called "kunoichi" back in America," Momo said. "It's no surprise as to why she's called that!"

"But how is she able to run that fast with that bag on her back?" Jackal asked.

"That's what I've always wanted to know!" Momo said.

They ran outside, and the supposed ruckus had already started there. Amidst the chaos, they saw a blur of black rush by quickly.

"Move like lightning!" Sanada yelled as he used the Rai of his FuuRinKaInZanRai.

While Sanada was able to catch up to Ayame with his Rai, it did no good. Ayame heard him yelling and began Ninja Dashing in an irregular zigzag motion to make it harder to catch her. She then took out her racket and a ball, and she hit a serve in front of her. When the ball landed, an explosion of dust kicked up.

"That's her Smoke Bomb!" Momo exclaimed.

Ayame vanished inside of the dust created by the ball, and the ball soon flew out of the dust in the reverse direction, hitting Sanada in the face.

"Sanada-kun!" Yagyuu cried.

"Smoke Bomb?" Jackal repeated the name.

"Ayame-chan hits it like a Twist Serve," Momo explained. "But she puts a lot of spin where it would kick up dust when it hits the ground. She can use it like a reverse Twist Serve as well."

"We've lost sight of her because of it," Renji said.

The boys were about to move until they saw Ayame in front of them. Suddenly a second Ayame appeared.

"There's two of her?!" Kirihara shouted, confused.

"She's using Eiji-senpai's Seal Step!" Momo exclaimed. "Now it'll be harder to catch her, because we need to find the real one!"

Ayame formed a second clone of her, and all three of them dashed off in opposite directions.

"Everybody split up!" Yukimura commanded. "Go in groups of three and chase after one of them!"

"Wait, Niou's not here!" Jackal pointed out.

"The probability that Niou went and disguised himself as Kanna to join in on the fun is 94%," Renji said.

"This is bad, we really need to stop them," Yukimura sighed.

* * *

Meanwhile, the real Ayame was standing on top of the school gate, playing her flute. She felt triumphant at her success for sabotaging the festival, and wanted to celebrate by playing her favorite instrument. She played for a bit before she was eventually spotted by Momo.

"Hi there, Momoshiro-senpai!" she called out.

"Is that really you, Ayame-chan?" Momo asked, suspicious that she might be a Seal Step clone.

"These people here are rude," Ayame commented. "They're not listening to my beautiful music, even though I've had 2 years of flute experience."

That part was true. Even though it sounded like she was just mocking Horio's line of "2 years of tennis experience" (which she really was), Ayame started taking up flute when she was ten.

 _What's with her?_ Momo thought. _She's good at tennis, she's good at acting, she's good at starting a riot without getting caught, she's good at pretending to be a ninja, and she's good at flute. Does she not have any limits to what she could do?_

Ayame packed away her flute. "Well, I'm leaving the festival now. Tell those Rikkai guys that they don't have to hunt me down anymore. And tell them good luck catching the trickster guy too."

She jumped off of the gate and left the grounds as the madness did not show any signs of settling down.

 _That was unexpectedly simple,_ she thought as she ran off. _All I did was move the food from one stand to the other and they thought they were stealing each other's food. Rikkai guys are stupider than I thought._


	26. Doubles with Fudomine

**Chapter 26: Doubles with Fudomine**

Ayame walked down the street to the street tennis courts. It had been awhile since she was last there, and she was feeling the need to dominate the place.

She arrived at the front steps and made her way there. As she made it to the top, a girl standing nearby started talking to her.

"Aren't you Echizen-kun's friend?" she asked.

"If you mean Echizen Ryoma, then yeah," Ayame answered. "Who are you?"

"Tachibana An," the girl answered.

"I see, you're the younger sister of that Fudomine captain. I'm Kanna Ayame."

Ayame looked over to the court to see two boys playing at the court.

"Oh, that guy is the guy who raced me sometime after I moved here way back then," Ayame said.

"You mean Kamio-kun?" An asked.

"Yeah," Ayame answered. "That rhythm freak. Who's the other guy playing with him?"

"Ibu Shinji-kun," An answered.

"He another Fudomine student?"

"Yes."

"Isn't he the guy that Ryoma played when he injured his eye?"

"Yes."

"Well, I came here to play some tennis, but it doesn't seem like there's a crowd here this time around. Guess I'll go to the back courts and practice."

"Some of the St. Rudolph people are back there. Maybe you can play a match with them."

"What's St. Rudolph?"

"You don't know?"

"Nope, never heard of it. Actually, on second thought… I think I DID hear about it from somewhere… I can't remember. Oh, whatever. I'm going back there anyway."

Ayame went to the courts in the back and saw three St. Rudolph students.

"Oi, that's Echizen's friend over there!" one of them said.

"Wah, she's really cute dane!" another exclaimed.

"Oh, I remember you now!" Ayame exclaimed, pointing at the first boy who talked. "You're Fuji-senpai's little brother who lost to Ryoma!"

"What?!" Yuuta was angry about the fact that Ayame reminded him of his loss and that it was how she remembered him.

"Oh yeah, I think I heard from Ryoma!" Ayame went on. "You're the guy who got crushed by Fuji-senpai!"

Mizuki and Yuuta became miserable as they were reminded of their losses to Seigaku.

"You guys got hurt dane," Yanagizawa said, laughing.

"And you're the guy who got blown away by Momoshiro-senpai!" Ayame finished.

The three St. Rudolph students became angry. "Use our names!"

"Sorry, sorry, I don't know you guys' names. I thought there'd be a bigger crowd here, but it's just you guys and the Fudomine people."

Ayame turned around and went back to the court at the front where Fudomine was. She had changed her mind about practicing in the back courts and decided to play fun matches with the two schools.

"So, wanna play some tennis?" she asked aloud, wanting to get responses from both Fudomine and St. Rudolph.

"Let's draw straws," An suggested.

"I'll make them!" Mizuki announced.

Mizuki made the straws and everyone drew one. Ayame didn't feel so great as she realized that they were playing doubles.

"One set match!" Mizuki announced. "Kanna-Ibu pair versus Kamio-Tachibana pair! Kanna to serve!"

Ayame hit a forward Twist Serve, as Kamio couldn't return it.

"15-0!"

"She hits it almost like Echizen's Twist," Yuuta remarked.

 _I won't go rough on you since you're a girl,_ Ayame thought as she stared at An, who was receiving.

Ayame hit a backwards Twist Serve that time, stunning everyone else on the court.

"3...30-0…" Mizuki announced with some slight hesitation.

"Did that Twist Serve just go the other way?" Yuuta asked.

"This is what you call the reverse Twist Serve," Ayame said aloud. "If you think I can't play as good as my idiot best friend, then you've got another thing coming!"

"Game, Kanna-Ibu pair. 1-0! Change court!"

Ayame had easily held serve by alternating between her Twist Serves.

"Damn!" Yanagizawa exclaimed.

"Kanna's really good," Yuuta remarked. "I wonder if she's ever won against Echizen…"

"Oh, I have," Ayame said as she passed by the bench that Yuuta and Yanagizawa were sitting on. "But he beat me too. We each have 10 wins and 10 losses as of now."

It was then Kamio's serve. Shinji returned the serve. Ayame began playing like as though the match was a 2v1, not allowing Shinji to return. She also easily returned Kamio's Sonic Bullets.

"0-15!"

"What the… Kanna is returning all the balls and she's not letting Ibu play dane," Yanagizawa pointed out.

"She's probably not good at doubles," a voice said.

"Aniki!" Yuuta said in surprise.

"Kanna has always been playing singles," Fuji said. "She said that she's only played an actual doubles match once and admitted that it was hard. There was one other time where she played a strange kind of doubles. She played against the Golden Pair alone and won."

"So she's that good dane?!" Yanagizawa exclaimed.

"Kanna is able to use the Tenimuhou no Kiwami," Fuji said. "She used that in addition to Eiji's Seal Step to simulate doubles. The Golden Pair also used Synchro, and they played evenly. But in the end, Kanna's Tenimuhou no Kiwami won."

"0-30!"

Ayame had been stealing the returns from Shinji whenever a rally started, taking on An and Kamio alone. She managed to get points on her own despite being at a disadvantage from the outside perspective.

"I'm raising the rhythm!" Kamio shouted, clearly frustrated that Ayame had been easily reaching the balls.

"Why is Kanna-chan playing like as if I'm not here?" Shinji began muttering to himself. "She's playing like as if this was a singles match, but against two opponents… Maybe she's doing this to get attention to herself because she wants to show that she can play evenly against two opponents… Ah… I guess it's okay since we're winning, but…"

"Take this!" Ayame yelled as she smashed the ball.

"Kanna's been running all over the court for all this time dane," Yanagizawa remarked. "If she doesn't stop running that fast soon, she won't last for the whole set dane."

"I wonder about that," Fuji said.

"What do you mean?" Yuuta asked.

"I've seen Kanna play more than one sets running all over the court, and she wasn't really out of breath," Fuji answered. "She's also played a match with Echizen before the Nationals and they went into a tiebreak that ended at a score of 200-200 because they both fainted. Her stamina is really good, and I'll bet that she's been working hard in America as well."

"Game, Kanna-Ibu pair! 2-0!"

It was Shinji's serve, and again Ayame returned all the shots from the net, not allowing a ball past her.

"I see," Fuji said aloud.

"What do you mean by that dane?" Yanagizawa asked.

"Have you noticed that Kanna has been concentrating her shots on Kamio?" Fuji began to explain. "She probably knows that Kamio is a speed player and is trying to make him lose stamina so he won't last. She doubts that Ibu will follow up with that, so she's taking all the shots."

"Game, Kanna-Ibu pair! 3-0!"

It was An's serve, and Ayame stared at Kamio as he panted.

 _There! It's done!_ Ayame thought.

An served, and Ayame finally allowed Shinji to return balls. Kamio had run out of stamina trying to hit Ayame's shots from earlier, so it was technically a 2v1 between An and the Kanna-Ibu pair.

"Game and match, Kanna-Ibu pair! 6-0!"

"Damn…" Kamio muttered under his breath, disappointed that he gave out in the middle of a match again.

 _Fuji-san said that Kanna-san won against the Golden Pair alone…_ An thought as she stared at the first year girl. _I guess it's no surprise she could play evenly against me and Kamio-kun without needing Shinji-kun's help…_

"If you're a speed player, then you need to work on your stamina," Ayame lectured. "Mada mada dane."

"She really isn't out of breath at all…" Yuuta remarked.

"Ah, Fuji-senpai!" Ayame said as she noticed Fuji. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to play some tennis," Fuji answered.

"Oh yeah, I think it's St. Rudolph's turn to play now," Ayame said. "So, what'll it be now?"

A little while later, the next match started.

"One set match! Fuji-Fuji pair versus Mizuki-Yanagizawa pair! Yanagizawa to serve!" Ayame announced.

 _So the Fuji brothers are together this match…_ Ayame thought. _This'll be really interesting…_

* * *

 **I'm gonna end this right here because I don't know how to write a match with pairs like them. But I think you could already tell which pair would win.  
**


	27. Aozu

**Chapter 27: Aozu**

Ryoma paid for his drink and walked outside of the store with it. As he opened the can and started drinking from it, he was getting a familiar feeling that he's been having for a long while. The feeling was drinking Ponta, and since America does not have Ponta, he's been dying to drink it again.

He heard the sound of a jet plane above him, and he looked up into the sky at it. When his sights fell on the plane, it made him think about Ayame. She was a very bouncy girl, not to mention unpredictable, violent, and somewhat insane. Even though those sides of her often tired him out, Ryoma had missed the insanity that she gave off. Ever since she had left to Tokyo, the hotel room had been very quiet.

The last Ryoma ever heard of her was when Momo called him and told him that she was at the Ocean Festival at Rikkaidai. She was forced to play as the main role halfway through their Cinderella play, and it did not go well for the Rikkai members. While talking with Momo on the phone (smack in the middle of the night, much to Ryoma's annoyance), Ryoma heard Ayame go violent during a kissing scene, and the entire festival soon erupted into chaos because of her. This wasn't surprising to him, as he knew that Ayame loved to create riots in crowded, festive areas. He had to give her credit for ad-libbing the wedding scene though. Despite the fact that there was supposed to be kissing rather than violence, the play was given an excellent review nonetheless.

Dismissing his thoughts about Ayame, Ryoma walked down the street and passed by an alleyway. It was occupied with three teenage boys hanging around, and they were having a conversation.

" _Hey,_ " the first one said. " _Rick told me earlier that there's this girl at the arcade who's kickin' ass at Street Fighter._ "

" _A girl?_ " the second one asked. " _You serious, bro? What's she like?_ "

" _She's an Asian kid,_ " the first boy replied. " _She dun look old enough to look after herself._ "

" _An Asian gal who dun look old enough to look after herself?_ " the third boy asked.

" _Yeah,_ " the first boy said. " _She was carryin' a heavy tennis bag on her back while playin'._ "

" _Carryin' a tennis bag?_ " the third boy repeated. " _Could that be Ayame Kanna?_ "

" _You know that chick?_ " the second boy asked.

Hearing the boys mentioning Ayame, Ryoma stopped to eavesdrop.

" _You guys dunno?_ " the third boy asked. " _Back then, she showed up in tennis tournaments and dominated them. She was the youngest female to participate in those tournaments, and she frickin' wrecked everybody in there._ "

" _Well, if you say that she's good at tennis and that she's the one dominatin' at Street Fighter, then she must be one badass chick,_ " the second boy said.

Ryoma walked to the nearest arcade that he could find. He entered and there was a commotion at the other side of the building. Ryoma followed the noise and found a bunch of older boys crowding around an arcade machine. He pushed his way through the crowd and saw a girl with long, jet-black hair playing at the machine, and the game was Street Fighter. She was carrying a tennis bag as she played.

 _Ayame…_ Ryoma recognized her.

Watching Ayame play reminded Ryoma the times when they would play a video game together during lunch break back in Seigaku. Often times they wouldn't notice the other freshmen staring at them until they were done with their game because they would get so heated up about their competition that they become oblivious to their surroundings (which makes it very odd for Ayame, as she is almost always attentive to her surroundings).

The boys gathered around the machine watched in amazement as Ayame dominated the game. Finally, she decided to stop playing, and the crowd cleared out. As she turned around, she noticed Ryoma.

"Oh! Hey there, Ryoma!" Ayame greeted happily.

"Chiisu," Ryoma greeted, grinning. "You never told me that you were coming back today."

"Oh, which reminds me, let's go back to the hotel. I swung by there, but you weren't there, so I went out to play some games. I left a little souvenir inside of the room before I came here."

The two freshmen went back to the hotel room and Ryoma noticed a big bag on the table.

"It's in that bag over there," Ayame pointed at the bag.

Ryoma went over to the table and opened the bag.

"Ah, it's Ponta! Sankyuu!" Ryoma said enthusiastically as he took out a can and started drinking from it.

"I figured," Ayame said. "America doesn't sell Ponta, and I know how much you love to drink it. So I bought some before I took a flight back. Though carrying a big bag full of that plus my tennis bag wasn't very easy. Oh yeah, also my dad gave me some more money to use here."

"So what have you been doing back in Japan?"

"I played some of the senpai-tachi. I even beat Tezuka-senpai."

At Ayame's words, Ryoma was surprised… causing the Ponta he was drinking to go down the wrong pipe in his throat, and he started coughing. Ayame snickered at the sight.

"I guess that means there still isn't a counter to Tenimuhou no Kiwami," she said. "But damn, the match I had against the Golden Pair was intense."

"Who was your partner?" Ryoma asked.

"Nobody, I played alone against them."

This time Ryoma spat out his Ponta.

"But I still won because apparently Tenimuhou no Kiwami is better than Synchro," Ayame went on.

Ryoma wasn't sure if he was dreaming or if he actually heard Ayame correctly.

 _She beat the Golden Pair by herself?_ he thought in disbelief.

"Oh yeah, I got a GREAT idea that would be fun to do!" Ayame said.

"Huh…?" Ryoma snapped back to reality and it took him a second to register what Ayame said. "Oh, what is it?"

Ayame held up a pitcher of blue liquid.

 _Oh no, she didn't…_ Ryoma thought in horror as he recognized the liquid as a type of Inui Juice.

"While I was in Tokyo, I asked Fuji-senpai about what kind of Inui Juice he wasn't immune to," Ayame explained. "He said that it was Aozu. So then I went to Inui-senpai and asked him for the recipe plus a pitcher. I told him that I'll even take data for those who didn't pass out from the Aozu, so he agreed and gave it to me."

"Wh-what are you going to do with it?" Ryoma asked nervously, clearly terrified of the drink.

"How about we both go to a tennis court and play other people? We still have a reputation here in America, so it'd be natural for better tennis players to want to play us, right? And if any of them loses to any of us, they'll have to drink this Aozu!"

Ryoma sighed in relief, as he initially thought that Ayame was going to force him to drink the Aozu. He remembered feeling the same intense fear when he witnessed Fuji's blackout at the hands of the blue vinegar.

 _Nobody knows how terrifying the Aozu really is…_ his thoughts went. _That means we'd be claiming a lot of victims…_

Ryoma smirked at the thought of watching a bunch of other tennis players pass out from the Aozu. "Let's do it!"

The two freshmen walked to an empty court together. While they waited for other players to show up, they hit a light rally together and played with their weaker hands. After some time had passed, a group of teenage tennis players came up.

" _Is that Ryoma Echizen and Ayame Kanna?_ " one of them asked.

" _The Ryoma Echizen and Ayame Kanna?_ " a second repeated. " _You mean the two Japanese kids who entered the U-16 tournaments and easily beat them?_ "

" _They're really good,_ " the first boy said. " _Apparently they were also best friends since they were younger._ _I heard that Ryoma Echizen and his school won the Nationals in Japan._ "

" _Think they'll play us?_ " the third boy asked.

The three teenage boys and the two teenage girls entered the courts.

" _Hey, are you guys Ryoma Echizen and Ayame Kanna?_ " the second boy called.

Ayame and Ryoma stopped rallying and looked at the group.

" _Yes, I'm Ayame and he's Ryoma,_ " Ayame called over.

" _Can we play with you both?_ " the first girl asked.

" _We'll play you, but on one condition,_ " Ayame called.

She walked to the bench and took out a pitcher of Aozu.

" _If you lose to us, you have to drink this health juice called Aozu!_ " Ayame announced.

The American teenagers stared at each other. What kind of condition was that? If you lose, you have to drink this health juice? Whatever the case, they were glad they got to play the two Japanese freshmen.

Ryoma and Ayame each ended up playing singles with one of the teenagers. As they were both proud of their tennis skills, they gave the teenagers the handicap of playing with their non-dominant hands.

Ayame finished her game first. She went over to the bench and poured the Aozu from the pitcher into a plastic cup.

" _As promised, you have to drink this!_ " Ayame handed the cup over to the girl she had beaten.

The teenage girl drank the Aozu, not noticing the sadistic look on Ayame's face. The girl shrieked as she dropped the cup and fell to the ground, passed out. The boy playing with Ryoma, distracted by the girl screaming, lost focus as Ryoma got the ball past him.

"Game," Ryoma announced. "Mada mada dane."

Ayame gave the cup of Aozu to the boy who lost to Ryoma. The two freshmen watched with pleasure as the teenage boy screamed and passed out as well. The other three teenagers stared in bewilderment.

" _What's in that stuff?!_ " one of the boys demanded.

" _It's a se-cr-et!_ " Ayame said, grinning. " _If you do beat me or Ryoma, we'll tell you what's inside of the Aozu! Otherwise… you'll have to drink it._ "

In less than ten minutes, on the court were five unconscious American teenagers and two Japanese freshmen who look rather amused at the sight. This caused a bunch of stares of confusion to turn to the two young tennis players. Every once in a while a tennis player who recognized one or both of the two would get on the tennis court to challenge them, but ended up fainting from the wrath of the fearsome Aozu.

After an hour, there were a whole bunch of "corpses" on the tennis court. Ayame and Ryoma looked on, admiring their handiwork.

"Sasuga Inui-senpai," Ryoma remarked. "Nobody could withstand the Aozu."

"That was so much fun!" Ayame said cheerily.

The two freshmen walked back to their hotel room, giving off the vibe like as though they won a war. Ryoma took out another grape Ponta that Ayame brought back and started drinking it.

"I didn't bring back any cherry Ponta," Ayame said. "Too bad I don't get to celebrate with you."

Right then, Ayame's cell phone started ringing, and she picked it up. "Hello?"

"Ay-chan?" a boy's voice answered on the other end.

"Oh, Ryoga!" Ayame said, slightly excited. "What's up?"

"Are you back in America now?"

"Yeah, I came back. I'm still in the hotel room with Ryoma."

"Oh, OK. Well, I'm coming by for a visit."

"OK! I'll see you soon, then."

"What did he say?" Ryoma asked as Ayame hung up.

"Ryoga said he was gonna come by," Ayame answered.

Ayame looked over to the pitcher of Aozu.

"Ne, Ryoma," she started. "Do you wanna do this?"

"Do what?" Ryoma asked.

Ryoma noticed as Ayame's eyes fell on the Aozu, and then to the door.

"You don't mean…" Ryoma started.

"Yep, I do," Ayame said, putting on an evil grin.

Ryoma grinned. "OK, let's do it!"

Both freshmen waited until there was a knock at the door. Ayame got up and answered it.

"Yo, Ay-chan and Chibisuke!" Ryoga greeted.

"Yo," Ayame greeted as she walked back to the table and sat back down in her seat.

"Chibisuke, you're not saying hello to your onii-san?" Ryoga asked as he looked over to Ryoma, who was busy drinking his Ponta. "You're so mean."

Ryoma said nothing, but he looked up to acknowledge Ryoga before he continued to drink his Ponta.

"What's that drink you got right there?" Ryoga asked when he saw the pitcher of Aozu.

"Oh, a senpai made that," Ayame answered. "It's a health drink. Wanna drink some?"

"Sure," Ryoga answered.

Ayame and Ryoma fought a mad desire to laugh. Ayame got a cup and poured some of the Aozu from the pitcher into the cup.

"Here," she said as she gave Ryoga the cup.

Ryoga drank the cup as Ryoma and Ayame watched with intense interest like as if they expected Ryoga to drop dead on the ground. Soon after, Ryoga dropped the cup and started gagging.

"What is this?!" Ryoga demanded.

Ayame and Ryoma stared in bewilderment like as though they saw Ryoga as a ghost rather than a high school boy.

"He didn't faint," Ryoma remarked.

"I guess Ryoga is a lot tougher than we thought," Ayame sighed. "Dammit… Well, he's still affected by the drink somewhat."

Although the two freshmen were disappointed to learn that Ryoga didn't black out from the Aozu, they were amused that it still affected him, so they watched as Ryoga spent the next few minutes gagging to fight the horrible taste of the blue vinegar. Ryoga continually yelled for water, but his younger half brother and childhood friend did nothing to help and instead decided to let him suffer.

Ryoga eventually recovered. "What the hell was that?!"

"Aozu," Ayame answered. "Inui-senpai likes to make this drink called Inui Juice. Ryoma and his team are terrified of it, because it tastes so bad. The only person in the team who was able to resist them was Fuji-senpai. Except Aozu was the only Inui Juice that knocked him out."

"What, so you both decided to play a prank on me to see if I black out from it?!" Ryoga demanded.

"It was too bad that you didn't black out," Ayame said casually. "But it was still fun to watch you suffer."

"You little…" Ryoga looked ready to kill the two freshmen.

"Holy crap!" Ayame screamed, having the expression like as though she was seeing a masked man with a chainsaw. "Run for it, Ryoma!"

Ayame grabbed Ryoma's arm and took off running, dragging him along with her. She opened the door and sprinted down the hall.

"W-wait, Ayame!" Ryoma shouted.

Ayame made it to the elevators, but she suddenly calmed down right then.

"For a second there I thought Ryoga was gonna kill us," she said.

"Can we just go back now?" Ryoma asked, wanting to take an aspirin.

Both freshmen walked back to the hotel room, and Ryoga was still standing where he was before Ayame fled from the room.

"Ay-chan hasn't changed," Ryoga remarked. "Reminds me when she snapped when we stole oranges from the neighbor. Poor Dalmatian dog."

"Why did she beat it up again?" Ryoma asked, not really remembering why she had attacked it in the first place.

"It's because the dog almost bit you, Chibisuke," Ryoga answered. "Ay-chan must've sensed that you were in danger, so she tried to keep it away. But then she realized that she was going to get bit as well, so she attacked the dog."

 _I was pretty surprised when she attacked it…_ Ryoga thought. _She liked house animals too. But it was nothing compared to when she first showed her violence by kicking Dad. I think Chibisuke and I stared at her for about forty solid seconds._

 _I wouldn't attack dogs, but I did that time…_ Ayame thought. _I thought Ryoma was gonna get bit… I couldn't let it happen…_

"Now that I recall all this, didn't you and Ryoma stare at me for about forty solid seconds after that?" Ayame asked.

Ryoga stared at her. _How did she know what I was thinking?_

"Ryoga? Are you okay?" Ayame was concerned about Ryoga suddenly going silent.

"Uh… yeah, I'm fine, Ay-chan," Ryoga answered as he snapped back to reality.

"Ne," Ryoma spoke up. "I'm starting to remember a time where Ayame screamed and after that, she didn't visit us for a whole week."

"Oh, right," Ryoga was slightly amused when Ryoma brought up the topic. "That was when you and I stole one of Dad's magazines. We were reading it in secret behind the couch, and then Ay-chan came over. She saw the magazine, and she looked like as though she was seeing a corpse or something. I told her that Dad reads it, and that's when she screamed "hentai" and ran from the house. It was an entire week before she stepped into the house again, but now she kicked Dad every time she saw him."

Ryoma knew that Ayame would often beat up his father because he was a pervert, but didn't remember how she found out that Nanjiroh was a pervert. Apparently she found out through the porno magazines, or so Ryoga says.

"Well, I'm leaving now," Ryoga said. "Take care of yourselves, Ay-chan and Chibisuke."

Ryoga walked out the door and closed it behind him.

"Oh well, even though I said I'd take data for Inui-senpai, I won't," Ayame said. "I only said so just so he can give the Aozu."

"Don't make me drink it…" Ryoma muttered, almost to himself.

"Oh, and since I have the recipe, maybe I'll go make some more!"

Ryoma now had a terrible feeling as Ayame looked as though she met her desire to start an undead army.


	28. Ryoma's Missing Bag

**Chapter 28: Ryoma's Missing Bag**

Ryoma slowly opened his eyes, only to be blinded by the sunlight. He held his hand over his head for shade as his vision slowly slid into focus and adjusted to the light. He had been napping under a tree near a park with his cap over his face, but it had been blown off sometime while he was sleeping.

" _Nice one!_ " he heard somebody say.

Ryoma dizzily sat up and looked over to see a group of kids playing kickball, and Ayame was among the group. Ayame had never played kickball before, and she had wanted to join in to see what it was like. The kids were kind enough to tell her how to play, and her team was winning by a lot.

Ryoma watched as Ayame's team won mostly because of her.

" _Dang! You said this was your first time playing kickball, and you're really good!_ " a boy said to Ayame.

" _You run really fast and you send the ball flying every time you kick_ ," another boy said. " _You'd be a really good kickball player!_ "

" _Thanks for the compliments, but I play tennis,_ " Ayame said, silently glad that she met the Echizens.

Ayame looked over to see that Ryoma was finally awake.

" _Ah, my jerk of a best friend is finally awake,_ " she said. " _I was gonna play a match with him._ "

" _That boy who was sleeping over there is your best friend?_ " a kid asked her.

" _Yeah,_ " she replied. " _His name's Ryoma Echizen. Don't judge. It's a Japanese name._ "

" _Wait, you don't mean the Ryoma Echizen who won four straight tennis tournaments here?!_ " one of the boys said, shocked.

" _Yep, that's him,_ " Ayame said casually. " _If you know Ryoma, then you may or may not know his best friend, Ayame Kanna._ "

" _Wait, YOU'RE Ayame Kanna?!_ " one of the girls asked.

" _Yep, Ryoma Echizen's best friend Ayame Kanna,_ " Ayame answered.

Ayame walked over to Ryoma as the other kids stared at her.

"Oi, Ryoma," she said. "Let's play a match."

"Fine," Ryoma answered and turned to grab his tennis bag, only to see that it wasn't where he left it.

"What's wrong?" Ayame asked as Ryoma kept looking around. "Did you leave it at the hotel?"

"No, it was right here before I took a nap," Ryoma answered as he picked up his cap and put it on his head. "But it's gone."

"You don't think that somebody stole it, do you?" Ayame asked.

Ryoma froze. If somebody did steal his tennis bag, that would be terrible. Inside were his three rackets, rice crackers, Gameboy Advance, planner, Doubles for Beginners book (not that it was important anymore), pen case, photos of Karupin (just thinking about not being able to see the face of his beloved cat made him feel depressed), and some cash that he used to buy groceries and energy drinks.

"Did you see somebody take it?" Ryoma asked Ayame.

"No," Ayame answered. "I didn't keep watch when I was playing kickball… Hey, you still have your cell phone, right?"

"Yes. It's right here in my pocket."

"Good. Go around and see if you can find somebody with your bag. If you see the crook, gimme a call and I'll beat the crap outta them. I wanna do it before we call the police."

Both freshmen went their separate ways while searching for the stolen tennis bag. Ayame pulled out her cell phone and started a call.

"Hello?" an older boy's voice answered.

"Ryoga?" Ayame said.

"Hey, Ay-chan. What's the matter? You sound a bit distressed."

"Yeah… truth is, somebody stole Ryoma's tennis bag."

"Somebody stole Chibisuke's bag?"

"Yeah… Do you mind helping us by trying to track down the culprit? I was gonna beat the crap outta them once I find them."

"Sure, I'll help. How did this happen?"

"I don't know. As far as I know, Ryoma was sleeping near the park and somebody just up and stole his bag. I was at the park too, and when I was there, he had his bag still, but I never saw who stole it."

"I see. Well, I'll do whatever I can to help find Chibisuke's bag."

"Thanks. Gimme a call if you find out anything. And don't call the police yet. If you don't find it by four in the afternoon, then meet at the hotel."

Ayame ended the call and continued searching the area for any clues.

 _I hope we find it…_ she thought. _America's a big place, and the thief could be anywhere!_

Ayame called Ryoma to tell him to meet back at the hotel if they don't find any traces of the bag by four. They went back to finding clues of Ryoma's stolen bag. Ayame walked down the streets, asking passing strangers if they had seen a "blue and black tennis bag with "Seigaku" etched in it." The answer was always no. Ayame would sometimes threaten the more suspicious-looking people, but she got nothing out of them.

Hours passed, and soon four o'clock came around. Neither had found any clues. Ryoma began to make his way back to the hotel to meet up with Ayame and Ryoga like they said. As he entered the lobby, he ran into Ryoga.

"Yo, Chibisuke!" Ryoga greeted. "From the looks of it, you didn't find out anything about your bag, did you?"

"No," Ryoma answered.

Both boys went to the room that Ryoma and Ayame stayed at. When they opened the front door, they saw Ayame sitting on her bed, staring at the floor.

"Ay-chan, you didn't find out anything either?" Ryoga asked.

"No," Ayame answered, not looking up.

"Looks like we're gonna have to call the police after all…" Ryoga sighed.

"Actually…" Ayame started.

"What's up, Ay-chan?" Ryoga asked.

"I think I know one thing or two about who stole the bag…" Ayame continued. "No… I know who stole your bag, Ryoma."

"Who did?" both Echizen boys asked at the same time.

Ayame got off the bed and crouched down beside it. She reached under it and pulled out a Seigaku tennis bag.

"Wait… it was you?" Ryoma asked.

Ayame now had on a mischievous smirk.

"What the hell?!" Ryoga was in a sour mood now. "You made me come all the way down here for this when it was actually you who took the bag?! No wonder you didn't want us to call the police!"

"Yeah," Ayame answered coolly. "I was getting revenge."

"For what?!" Ryoga demanded.

"For when you made fun of me during the time Ryoma was sick," Ayame replied with a hint of anger in her voice. "My mind was screaming "Smash it! Smash it!", and it was my cell phone I was fixing to smash! I was lucky that I was strong enough to fight that urge!"

"Why did you have to drag me into it?" Ryoma asked, obviously unhappy about the fact that Ayame made him run all over town for no good reason.

"Because I wanted to see how you'd react if your bag was stolen," Ayame answered, grinning. "But on the bright side, you got a good workout by running. And I needed an excuse to beat up some suspicious-looking dudes."

Ayame put down her bag and opened it. "Anyway, Ryoma, should we start our match now?"

"Fine," Ryoma said as he picked up his bag and turned to the door, only to turn around and look back when he realized that Ayame wasn't following. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't mean tennis," Ayame answered as she took out a Gameboy Advance with a cord.

"You got a Gameboy Advance?"

"Yes."

"I see," Ryoga said. "You're both gonna play a video game together?"

"Yeah," Ayame answered. "We started playing video games after Ryoma got that Gameboy Advance."

Ryoma took out his Gameboy Advance and the freshmen turned their gaming systems on.

 _So Ay-chan and Chibisuke have some sort of competition outside of tennis too…_ Ryoga thought. _I'm sure it's a lot friendlier than—_

Ryoga's thoughts were cut off as he saw that Ryoma and Ayame both had expressions like as though they were about to commit murder, causing the tension in the air to grow heavy.

 _What's with that intensity?_ Ryoga thought nervously.

The instant the game had started, the two freshmen began pounding on the buttons violently.

 _I won't lose to him!_ Ayame thought.

 _I won't lose to her!_ Ryoma thought.

 _Of course…_ Ryoga thought as he stared. _Their video gaming is just as competitive as their tennis…_

His little brother and friend paid no more attention to him as they became too concentrated in their game to even care. They didn't even look up when Ryoga slowly walked out of the room and didn't come back.

* * *

"Damn, I lost again…" Ayame sighed.

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma taunted.

"Oi, where'd Ryoga go?"

"Who knows?"

"Oh well, whatever. I don't think he'd enjoy watching us trying to beat each other."

Ayame put away her Gameboy Advance.

 _That bastard needs to be more careful outside..._ she thought. _That creeper that I beat up was the dude who tried to steal the tennis bag, and I hid it back here._


	29. Muga no Kyouchi

**School has started for me, so the updates may or may not be slow, it all depends on how much work I've got every day and if I have enough time to write.**

* * *

 **Chapter 29: Muga no Kyouchi**

Ayame walked along the sidewalk, not paying attention to anything around her in particular. One thing ran through her mind.

 _How the hell am I able to use Tenimuhou no Kiwami if I can't activate Muga no Kyouchi?_

Not that she wanted to be able to use Muga no Kyouchi (she really hated the fact that you use a considerable amount of your stamina as in result). It's just that Tenimuhou no Kiwami was one of the doors behind Muga no Kyouchi. She's never had any experience with Muga no Kyouchi and she was just suddenly able to use Tenimuhou no Kiwami.

 _The old pervert said that you have to enjoy tennis to use Tenimuhou no Kiwami…_ she thought. _Since I play tennis for fun, it was real easy to activate it. But I always thought you were supposed to be able to use Muga no Kyouchi in order to use any of the three pinnacles. Maybe I should ask Ryoma about this… but then again, we've been playing heated matches with each other, and I don't think Ryoma would reveal anything else about him._

Ayame knew that Ryoma was the only middle schooler as of yet who unlocked all three doors of Muga no Kyouchi while being able to use Muga no Kyouchi. She never heard of any other tennis player who unlocked the three doors without being able to use Muga no Kyouchi.

 _Oh well, I'll find out some way or another…_ she thought.

Ryoma made his way back to the hotel room. He had been out practicing and was going to settle down for a nap. After some five minutes of walking, Ryoma arrived at the hotel and went to the room. He opened the door and saw something that would've probably scarred him for the next ten years of his life if he wasn't tough in the mind. His mind registered it as a red-eyed ghost with a scary face as his eyes widened and he started screaming bloody murder. Some bright aura flashed out of him as he fell backward and landed on the ground, insensible.

Ayame pulled the sheet off of her. She untied the bungee tied around her waist as she unhooked it from the ceiling, releasing her to the ground.

 _Damn…_ she thought as she looked down at Ryoma like as if he was some sort of alien. _I scared him so much that he fainted? And he emitted some Muga out of him too…_

Ayame had originally wanted to use intimidation to force the information out of Ryoma, but things didn't pan out the way she thought it would. She really didn't expect Ryoma to drop dead just like that.

 _Oh well, when he wakes up, maybe he can tell me why…_ she thought as she lifted up the boy and set him on her back.

Ayame dropped Ryoma onto his bed. She was trying to figure out how she scared Ryoma so badly that he fainted, given that he's a boy with incredible nerves of steel. What scared Ryoma was that the face that Ayame drew on the sheet had red eyes. He became terrified of red eyes when he once played a match with Kirihara before the Kanto finals, where Kirihara's eyes went bloodshot and he began injuring his knee.

* * *

It was sometime later in the day when Ryoma regained consciousness. He vaguely remembered why he had fainted in the first place, and then it dawned on him that it was Ayame's doing.

 _It's gotta be her…_ he thought. _Nobody else could've gotten into the room other than her._

Ryoma sat up and looked around. He noticed that Ayame was gone. He had wanted to give her a piece of his mind for having the nerve to try to scare the living hell out of him and assumed that she left to escape retribution from him for the time being.

The door opened and Ayame came in.

"Ah, you're finally awake, bastard," she said as soon as she saw him. "I decided to go out and do the shopping real fast."

"Why did you try to scare me in the first place?" Ryoma asked with a hint of irritation in his tone.

"Welllllll…" Ayame hesitated. "I wanted to find out how your Muga no Kyouchi works, so I tried to intimidate you into telling me. But you didn't tell me before that you faint whenever you see a red-eyed ghost."

Ryoma hesitated as the mention of "red eyes" reminded him of when he humiliated himself by fainting three times in one day.

"Well, why didn't you say so?" Ryoma asked. "You didn't have to go through the trouble of doing that…"

Ayame did a pratfall. _He would willingly just tell me about it? I thought he wouldn't._

Ryoma got up, grabbed his tennis bag, and walked to the door.

"What are you waiting for?" Ryoma asked, turning around.

"Nani?" a confused Ayame asked.

"Do you want me to demonstrate Muga no Kyouchi or not?"

"A-ano… Hai!"

Ayame followed Ryoma to an open tennis court.

"Okay, first," Ryoma began explaining. "Muga no Kyouchi is the state of self-actualization where your mind is "Mu" while you're playing. I think you've seen that when I use it, I play different styles of tennis blindly, but it takes away a lot of my strength. I can control my Muga no Kyouchi – you've seen me during my match against Atobe-san – to where I can last a long while using it."

"But how do you use it?" Ayame asked.

"You have to have surpassed your limits and you will unconsciously use Muga no Kyouchi. But I can control mine to where I can use it at any time."

"Yeah, but I'm able to manipulate Tenimuhou no Kiwami and I can't use Muga no Kyouchi."

"You should be able to use it. You probably activated Tenimuhou no Kiwami over it every time you surpass your limits."

Ayame stopped to think about the times she felt like she pushed her limits. Every time she did reach her limits, she would always activate Tenimuhou no Kiwami to get out of a pinch.

 _So all this time I could use Muga no Kyouchi and I never waited long enough for it?_ she wondered.

"Knowing you, I doubt you'd want to be able to use it anyway," Ryoma suddenly said. "I know that you're a stamina freak, so you wouldn't want to use something like that…"

"Heh, you're right, bastard," Ayame admitted after taking a few seconds to hold back her anger.

Ayame had a habit of emphasizing stamina to anybody who doesn't last an entire match, and Ryoma had seen it a lot when they played random people at the tennis courts. He was quite sure that anybody would be just as annoyed whenever Ayame gave one of her stamina lectures, but then again, he's usually the one who keeps hearing it because he's almost always hanging out with her.

"You just wanted to hear how Muga no Kyouchi works, right?" Ryoma asked. "Then we're done here."

"Hold up," Ayame broke in. "When I scared the crap outta you, some of the Muga no Kyouchi leaked out of you. So do you also use it out of reflex when you get scared by something?"

"I-I leaked some Muga?" Ryoma stammered, blushing.

 _That's an unusual reaction,_ Ayame thought. _So him leaking Muga might be a variation of when somebody gets so scared they pee in their pants._

"Never mind," Ayame said. "Anyway, can you hit with me while using your Muga no Kyouchi?"

"Why?" Ryoma asked.

"I want to see if I'm good enough to play against somebody throwing random techniques at me. Because a good tennis player should have no problems handling a Muga no Kyouchi player."

"Fine."

Both freshmen got to their positions and Ryoma allowed Ayame to serve. Ryoma began emitting the aura out of his body.

" _You still have lots more to work on,_ " he said.

Ayame hit a regular serve, and Ryoma rushed up to return it. She noticed one gesture that was too familiar to her.

 _That's my Gemini's Offensive Formation!_ she thought in dread.

Ryoma returned the ball as a flurry of fluke balls started flying straight towards Ayame. Ayame executed a Ninja Dash and avoided the fluke balls, and Ninja Dashed back to return the ball. However, this caused her to hit a lob. Ryoma leaped up into the air and prepared to smash.

 _Dunk Smash!_ Ayame recognized it.

Ryoma smashed the ball, and Ayame returned it with a Kirin Otoshi, allowing her to get the point. Ayame served again, watching Ryoma's movements intently.

 _Hadoukyouu?!_ the word struck Ayame like a bullet when she recognized Ryoma's stance.

Ryoma hit the ball, and Ayame returned it with Kagerou Zutsumi. Ryoma got into a familiar stance.

 _Houou Gaeshi!_ Ayame read.

She Ninja Dashed up to the net as Ryoma executed the move, and she returned it with a drop shot before it landed. Ryoma appeared to have teleported to the net and returned the ball, lobbing it.

 _Damn, he copied my Ninja Dash…_ Ayame swore as she leaped up to smash.

Ayame smashed the ball past Ryoma, who didn't react on time. She then served again, and this time she saw Ryoma try to execute a move that almost paralyzed her with fear. However, it came out as a normal return, and Ayame reacted as she caught the ball.

"What the hell, bastard?!" Ayame yelled at Ryoma while having the expression as though he had stolen her tennis bag. "Are you trying to kill me?! What're you thinking, tryna use the Destruction against me?!"

Ryoma then left the Muga no Kyouchi mode.

"Gomen," he muttered, intimidated.

"Thank God that Ryoga didn't specifically teach you how to use it yet…" Ayame sighed in relief, mumbling almost to herself. "It's a really hard technique to learn."

"So it's that hard?"

"Yeah. I know you don't believe me, but it is. It's true that I can copy most moves by watching them and learning the mechanics with the help of my heightened senses, but I can't learn EVERYTHING right away. Like Muga no Kyouchi and Zero-Shiki Serve."

Ayame recalled that when she secretly met up with Ryoga, she saw him destroy the wall of a building with one shot. She had ran up to Ryoga and asked what that shot was, and Ryoga had told her that it was Destruction. He noticed Ayame's eyes glowing with interest, so he taught her the shot… by making her use a racket with only two strings until she mastered it.

"That shot will mess up your internal organs if you get hit by one," Ryoga had warned her. "Make sure you don't accidentally hit anyone with it if you were to use it, Ay-chan… unless it's somebody who you really hate and you have a reason to kill them."

Ayame put away the tennis ball. "Anyway, I think that's all I want to do for now. I think I can counter most random techniques like these, but not all."

Ayame and Ryoma then walked back to the hotel.

"Ayame, about disguising yourself as a ghost…" Ryoma started. "Where did you get a sheet for that?"

"It was the hotel's," Ayame answered. "I drew the face with a washable marker and then I washed it off. The sheet's still a little wet, but it's okay."

"And how were you floating?"

"I was using a bungee."

"Where did you get that from?"

"Tokyo."

"Why do you have one?"

"So I can cling to the ceiling and eavesdrop on people."

"Heh… you really like being a ninja, do you?"

"You know, we should play an actual match again later on today. I'm tired of having the same number of wins as you."

"Same here. Let's play a match later today."


	30. Tennis vs Video Games

**I don't know what I should name this chapter, so I just went with that.**

* * *

 **Chapter 30: Tennis vs Video Games**

Ayame stopped as she heard the sound of a tennis racket making impact with a ball, followed by the sound of it hitting something and somebody yelling in pain. She walked in the direction of it and came across a tennis court. She saw two high schoolers playing against two middle schoolers, and there were three other middle schoolers standing in the sidelines. One of the middle schoolers was a girl and the rest were boys. Ayame looked over to see the high schooler hit one of the playing middle schoolers with the ball.

"Ken!" the girl shrieked.

" _This is too easy,_ " one of the high schoolers laughed.

" _Hey, I don't like the way you're playing,_ " Ayame called out, holding back her temptation to go violent.

Everyone on the court looked over to the girl who was standing at the doorway.

" _Beating up an opponent younger than yourself? That's disgraceful,_ " Ayame remarked.

" _Stay out of this, kid!_ " the other high schooler, named Jack, said angrily to her.

" _I won't, and you won't make me,_ " Ayame replied.

She got onto the court.

" _Don't come! Stay out!_ " the kid named Ken said.

" _It's no use going on further,_ " Ayame said back. " _You're already hurt in all places. I'll deal with these punks two on one!_ "

" _You deal with us?_ " Jack's friend laughed. " _There's no way in hell a girl would beat us!_ "

" _I've watched for a bit as to how you played,_ " Ayame said. " _In fact, I can beat you with both my eyes closed. Come on, hit it here!_ "

Ayame closed her eyes and put on a smirk. This provoked Jack as he served the ball. Ayame swung her racket and the ball flew past her opponents.

" _F-fast!_ " Jack's friend stammered.

Ayame made very fast returns and serves, not allowing the high schoolers to hit the ball, all with her eyes closed.

 _Those fierce battles I fought with Ryoma… and the intense training I did to beat him and Ryoga…_ Ayame thought as she aced her shots. _It's really paying off…_

" _What's the matter?_ " Ayame taunted. " _What happened to all that smack talk? You even said there was no way in hell that you'd be beaten by a girl. You can't even return an underhand serve hit by THIS girl…_ "

Ayame easily defeated the high schoolers without using any special techniques and she kept her eyes closed for the remainder of the match.

"Mada mada dana," Ayame said.

The high schoolers fled from the courts. The other middle schoolers except for Ken gathered around Ayame.

" _You're amazing!_ " one of the boys said.

" _What's your name?_ " the girl asked.

" _Ayame Kanna,_ " Ayame answered.

" _You act a lot like a friend of ours,_ " the second boy commented. " _You said "Mada mada dana", but our friend likes to say "Mada mada dane"._ "

" _You mean Ryoma Echizen, right?_ " Ayame asked.

" _Yeah, that's him!_ " the boy said excitedly. " _You know him too?_ "

" _Of course I do,_ " Ayame answered. " _How could I NOT know that it was coming from my idiot best friend?_ "

" _Ayame, you're FRIENDS with Ryoma?!_ " Ken cried in shock.

" _But of course,_ " Ayame said. " _I was his neighbor ever since we were little kids up until he moved to Japan… but now we're roommates._ "

" _Roommates?_ " the girl repeated.

" _We're staying in the same room at the same hotel,_ " Ayame explained.

" _No wonder she's that good at tennis, she's friends with Ryoma…_ " Ken muttered.

" _Are you better than Ryoma?_ " one of the boys asked.

" _Oh, no, we're even,_ " Ayame answered. " _We've been playing intense matches with each other since we came back to America, and so far we each have 33 wins and 33 losses._ "

" _Hey, Ayame, can you show us where Ryoma is? I wanna play a match with him,_ " one of the boys said.

" _Well, I don't know where he is half the time, because during the day we wander around the city and we don't come back until the evening,_ " Ayame answered. " _Sometimes we do make a pit stop back to the hotel room in case if we forget something. Maybe if we stay at the hotel and wait, he'll show up eventually._ "

The five Americans followed Ayame as she led them to the hotel she was staying at. They went up to the room where Ayame unlocked the door and opened it. She didn't walk two steps inside when she saw something that made her do a pratfall.

" _I forgot, Ryoma is the type of guy who loves his sleep,_ " Ayame said as she stared at her best friend fast asleep in his bed. " _Lemme go wake him._ "

Ayame walked over to Ryoma's bed. "Kora! Hurry up and get your lazy ass out of bed, you bastard!"

Ryoma groaned and started mumbling. "Not now, Ayame…"

The Americans stared, not understanding what the two were saying. Ayame coughed, realizing that she was speaking in Japanese, and then began to shout again, this time in English.

" _Get up already, you stupid giant with the freaky body of steel, poisonous fingers, and three eyes!_ " Ayame scolded.

Ayame's words caused Ryoma to fall out of his bed, and the impact of landing face first into the ground knocked him wide awake.

"Did you really have to describe me like that loud Shitenhouji player did?" Ryoma asked as he got up.

" _I wouldn't be worried about that if I were you, Ryoma,_ " Ayame said. " _Your friends are watching us from the doorway._ "

Ryoma then instantly understood why Ayame was speaking in English, as he stared at the front door and instantly had an expression like as though he was seeing his worst nightmare.

" _Get out, get out!_ " he shouted as hustled Ayame toward the door, pushed her out as well as his American friends, and slammed it.

The six of them stared at the door.

" _What's with him?_ " one of the Americans asked.

" _I think it's because he was still wearing pajamas…_ " Ayame said.

" _Why did you call him a giant with the body of steel, poisonous fingers, and three eyes?_ " another American asked.

" _There was another Japanese tennis player his age who mistook his description from another tennis player,_ " Ayame explained. " _The player originally described Ryoma as having nerves of steel, is extremely cocky, and he stares you down with his scary stare. And remember that Japan is different from America, so yes, it sounds stupid as to why the player got the description completely off like that._ "

Ayame wasn't quite sure how to translate "San Paku Gan", so she went with "scary stare." Her Japanese is not exactly 100%, but it was good enough to be able to have a very long conversation with her.

The six kids waited outside until they heard a _click_ , followed by Ryoma opening the door. This time he was dressed, and his hair wasn't as much as a mess.

"Did you have to bring them over while I'm still sleeping?" he demanded angrily to Ayame.

Ayame knew why he was speaking in Japanese, and started speaking to him in Japanese back. "Well, I didn't KNOW you were still in dreamland! I thought you already left the hotel, and I told them that they should wait in the room until you come back."

The five Americans were confused at the two Japanese freshmen's speech, as they were speaking in Japanese, but they knew that they were having some sort of argument, given that they were each speaking in an angry tone. Ayame and Ryoma argued until suddenly they walked back into the hotel room, sat down at the table, and took out a small device out of their tennis bags.

" _Are those Gameboy Advances?_ " Ken asked.

The two Japanese seemed not to hear, and the five Americans watched nervously as the tension in the air grew heavy. Ayame and Ryoma turned on their Gameboy Advances and started pounding on the buttons violently.

" _Something tells me that their video gaming is just as competitive as their tennis…_ " one of the Americans said.

" _Ryoma, Ayame, are we going to play tennis or not?_ " the female American spoke up.

The two gamers kept playing their game, oblivious to their immediate surroundings.

" _I wonder what they were yelling about that made them start playing video games?_ " one of the Americans wondered.

" _They're not paying attention. Looks like we'll have to ask to play Ryoma some other time…_ " Ken said, seemingly angry that he was being ignored.

The five Americans left, leaving the two Japanese freshmen getting heated up over their video game.

* * *

"Mada mada dana, Ryoma!" Ayame taunted, triumphant that she won.

"Che," Ryoma sighed.

"Hey, where'd your friends go?"

"Who knows?"

"Oh well. They must've gotten bored watching us. Why were they here again?"

"I have no idea. Want to play another round?"

"Sure. Bring it on, bastard!"

* * *

 **This section is supposed to reveal what Ayame and Ryoma were saying when they were arguing, if you're curious:**

Ryoma: "Did you have to bring them over while I'm still sleeping?"

Ayame: "Well, I didn't KNOW you were still in dreamland! I thought you already left the hotel, and I told them that they should wait in the room until you come back. Nobody told me that you were gonna still be K.O.'d in the room by the time I come back!"

Ryoma: "Why are you using video game terms now?"

Ayame: "It doesn't make a difference! Sleeping, knocked out, whatever. Still the same thing!"

Ryoma: "Well, you didn't have to use a video game term to just say I was asleep!"

Ayame: "Ugh… you know, we're arguing over something pointless… and the pointless thing is the usage of video game terms, and it makes ME want to play a video game against you!"

Ryoma: "Well, you want to go at it?"

Ayame: "Why not? I'll wreck you this time, Echizen Ryoma!"


	31. Return of Amnesia

**I've been a lazy ass on not putting in the characters for 30 chapters already.** ** **When I first started out on this, I was still deciding if Ayame would already be friends with somebody from Seigaku right from the get-go, so I didn't put the characters. When I finally decided that she was going to be friends with Ryoma in reference to PowerStone, I forgot to put in the characters, and I've been lazy to put them on ever since.** I'll do it now while I'm updating this. Anyway, sorry for the wait. Here's the next chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter 31: Return of Amnesia**

"Mada mada!" Ayame yelled as she used all the force she could muster in her foot and kicked the ball.

Right after her foot made contact with the ball, she sprinted around the field and reached all the bases, earning her a point for her team.

" _Hey,_ " one of the older boys said. " _Since you kicked that ball all the way over there where we can't see it, you should go and get it. You run super fast after all._ "

" _Fine,_ " Ayame sighed.

She ran off the field and searched for the ball. After a half minute trying to search for it, she had found the ball, but she saw something that she wasn't quite expecting. She also found Ryoma lying facedown beside the ball.

"Ryoma?" Ayame said quizzically. "Are you really sleeping on the floor?"

She lifted her friend up and confirmed that the boy was indeed unconscious.

 _Oops,_ she thought as she realized what happened after looking at the ball. _Screw bringing the ball back, I need to see where it hit him…_

Ayame set Ryoma onto her back like a sack of potatoes and she walked back to the hotel. As soon as she got to her room, she dropped Ryoma onto his bed and waited for him to wake up. She had waited for a half hour, and eventually got so bored that she went out to do the shopping for nearly an hour, and when she got back, she still found Ryoma unconscious.

 _Of course,_ Ayame wanted to do a facepalm. _I should always expect him to be out for at least two hours before he stops dreaming._

After some fifteen minutes, Ryoma finally regained consciousness.

"Took you long enough," Ayame said, without looking. "Look, I'm sorry I accidentally hit you with the ball. I didn't think it'd hit you."

"Um… I'm sorry, who are you and what are you talking about?" Ryoma asked.

Ayame felt a pang of unease as she slowly turned her head to look at Ryoma.

 _Don't tell me…_ she thought.

"Do you know my name?" Ayame asked.

"No," Ryoma replied.

 _Oh no, you didn't. You didn't lose your memories again, did you, Echizen Ryoma…_ Ayame thought, the words rushing through her head so menacingly like as though they were about to commit murder.

Ayame would've felt sorrowful, but this time she felt something completely different. She couldn't really describe the feeling. She felt like as though she was irritated, annoyed, and exasperated all at once.

 _Maybe it was because he once had it before and since it wasn't that hard to help him regain his memories, it's become a major annoyance rather than a sad thing…_ her thoughts told her.

Ayame sighed as she called the Echizens back in Tokyo. She spoke with Nanako at first, but decided to keep it from her and just tell Rinko instead.

"Rinko-san, this is Ayame."

"What's wrong?"

"Ryoma has amnesia again."

"What happened?"

"I hit his head with a kickball. But it was an accident, I swear! I just kicked it and it flew maybe a hundred feet to his location and hit him on the head!"

"Well, that can't be helped. Do me a favor and try to help him regain his memories like you did during the Nationals finals."

"That's what I was gonna do…"

Ayame hung up. She felt a surge of anger going through her body, and suddenly kicked Ryoma in the leg with her right foot.

"Ow!" Ryoma exclaimed, and then he got angry. "What was that for?!"

"Baka!" Ayame yelled at him. "You HAD to go and lose your memories again, did you?!"

Ryoma was taken aback by Ayame's sudden anger. The last thing he expected was for this calm girl to suddenly snap and hit him.

Ayame then grabbed Ryoma's arm and dragged him outside of the hotel room. She checked out of the hotel and went straight to the airport.

 _I can't do this alone…_ she thought. _I'll have to fly back over there… again. Why are you always a handful, Ryoma? You keep falling asleep at the most inconvenient times and I have to carry you each time… and now you've lost your memories and made me fly all the way back to Tokyo for your sake…_

Sighing, Ayame took a confused Ryoma out of the plane after it landed and started heading right down the familiar path to Seishun Gakuen. She went around to the courts and noticed that Hyotei was there.

 _Are they having practice matches with them?_ she wondered.

Ayame then came into view, dragging Ryoma along.

"Ah! It's Ryoma-kun and Kanna-san!" Kachirou exclaimed when he saw the two.

Almost immediately were shouts of "Echizen!", "Ochibi!", and "Ryoma-sama!" However, the regulars noticed that Ayame was dragging Ryoma to the courts and she looked downright furious.

"What's wrong, Kanna?" Oishi asked.

"Lessee, where do I begin…?" Ayame stopped to think before she explained all in one breath. "OK, so what happened was that I was playing kickball with some fools who can't beat me, and this idiot named Echizen Ryoma never gave me any advance warning that he'd be in my line of fire, so he got K.O.'d and lost his memories."

There was an awkward moment of silence as everyone who was within earshot of Ayame's outburst was trying to figure out what she was saying.

"In short, you were playing kickball and you accidentally hit Echizen with the ball and now he has amnesia," Atobe said.

"Yes…" Ayame sighed. "Now this bastard made me fly all the way back here so I can get help from you boys to help regain his memories."

The scene in front of Ayame immediately changed. Nearly the entire club member had reacted in shock upon hearing Ayame's confirmation of Ryoma's amnesia. Fuji and Tezuka gave no reaction. Tomoka was being hysterical, and Sakuno started crying silently. Hyotei, on the other hand, looked slightly exasperated.

"Yeah, sorry, I don't think you should start by freaking him out by hugging him or whatever," Ayame said, looking at Momo and Kikumaru. "Wait til he remembers everything."

"We're about to start practice matches," Tezuka said. "We'll help you with Echizen after."

"Fine by me," Ayame said as she began to tie back her hair. "I haven't forced him to play me yet, and I think I should've done that before I came here."

Ayame dragged Ryoma to an empty court and forced him into playing her. The Seigaku regulars who weren't playing a practice match decided to watch Ayame try to force Ryoma's memories back. When Ayame hit the ball with her racket, she hit it with all the force she could muster, venting her frustrations. Again, it didn't take Ryoma long to be able to keep up a rally with her.

Ryoma finally spoke after Ayame got some balls past him. "Kanna... please teach me tennis again."

 _Oh great, not this again..._ Ayame thought in exasperation. _Only remembering me by my surname..._

"Whatever, I was gonna teach you anyway," Ayame said. "And just call me Ayame. It feels so weird when you call me Kanna again."

"What do you mean by that, Ayame-chan?" Momo called out.

"When I met Ryoma, he called me Kanna for a year straight before he started calling me Ayame," Ayame explained. "I never understood back then why he called me Kanna in the first place until I learned Japanese. And I wish he told me sooner that it was a Japanese culture thing back then, because he was never clear as to why he wouldn't call me Ayame."

Most of the onlookers were confused as to what Ayame was getting at.

"Oh, right, some of you don't know," Ayame sighed. "In America, you call people by their given name. And when you say their full name, you say the given name first, then the surname."

Ayame continued playing with Ryoma, revealing her moves, but she did not show her Smoke Bomb yet, and she refused to show him the Destruction. None of the practice matches with Hyotei and Seigaku had finished when Ayame finally got Ryoma to relearn the Twist Serve.

"Thanks, Kanna..." Ryoma said.

"No problem," Ayame gasped as she stopped to catch her breath. "And call me Ayame, will you? Next up is Split Step."

In almost no time, Ryoma relearned his moves from Ayame, and then Ayame decided that he should start playing with opponents he faced in the past. Well, at least the nearby ones at that.

"Kanna... thanks a lot..." Ryoma said after they finished.

"I told you to call me Ayame!" Ayame shouted at him suddenly, scaring him. "I told you to stop calling me Kanna because it sounds so weird coming from you! Is it so hard to pronounce my name or what?! In case if you forgot how to pronounce it, it's A-ya-me!"

Ayame then calmed down the next second, and she turned to the other tennis players.

"Senpai-tachi, I know some of you already played Ryoma!" she called over. "When you're done with your match, I need you to play him again! Gekokujou guy and Monkey King, you help too!"

"My name is Hiyoshi!" Hiyoshi said in irritation.

"Wait, Kanna...!" Ryoma protested.

"I said call me Ayame!" Ayame snapped at him, giving him her "call-me-Kanna-one-more-time-and-you're-dead" look.

"G-gomen..." Ryoma stammered, fearing that Ayame was really going to kill him that time.

Ayame watched as Kaidoh won his practice match against Akutagawa Jirou and he went to play Ryoma. Ryoma managed to recall his matches as he then played against Momo, Inui, Fuji, Hiyoshi, and finally Atobe.

"Thanks, Monkey King," Ayame said as Ryoma beat Atobe.

"Can you stop calling me that?" Atobe said, annoyed.

"Why?" Ayame asked. "Ryoma calls you that, and you were okay with it! Why can't I call you that?"

What Ayame didn't know was that Atobe was so used to girls flocking over to him that he never faced a scenario that any girl would be downright rebellious and disrespectful to him.

"Fine, if you wanted me to call you by your name, I'm sorry to say that I don't remember your name," Ayame said. "So if you want me to, I will. Uhhhh... what was it again...? It was Ahobe, right?"

The court then went silent. All eyes turned to Ayame. She then began to feel uncomfortable, almost like as if the eyes were rifles being pointed at her.

 _I got his name wrong, did I?_ she wondered.

It was then the laughter came. All of the Seigaku members were laughing, minus Tezuka, who was fighting to keep a straight face. The Hyotei members tried to hold back their laugh as well, but it wasn't an easy feat, considering that Atobe was suddenly given an insulting nickname that was also very funny at the same time. Atobe looked very angry. Ayame looked over to see Ryoma next to her, snickering.

"... I did..." Ayame said aloud to no one in particular. "Somebody kill me already..."

"You feel that bad about getting his name wrong?" Ryoma asked as soon as he stopped laughing.

"No, I was being sarcastic," Ayame answered, rolling her eyes. "But seriously, what was his name again?"

"Atobe-san," Ryoma answered.

It took sometime for everyone to calm down.

"Minna, arigatou!" Ayame called out. "It probably would've taken me three days longer just to get this bastard's memories back."

"Wasn't it all your fault that I got amnesia?" Ryoma asked.

"You never told me that you'd be in my line of fire when I kicked that ball, so it wasn't my fault! Why do you always have to be a handful for me?"

"... Ayame, stop talking like as if you're my older sister."

"I don't care that I'm younger than you!"

The rest of the tennis players watched as Ayame and Ryoma kept arguing. The Seigaku students were quite used to seeing the two freshmen argue, as they often argue over who's better at video games or tennis during lunch break, but this time they were arguing over something different. Hyotei, on the other hand, didn't know that the two Seigaku freshmen argue like that, and were taken by surprise when they started.

Soon after Ryoma and Ayame stopped arguing, Hyotei then left to return to their school.

"OK, guys, you don't have to hold back anymore," Ayame said.

"What are you talking about?" Ryoma asked her.

His question was soon answered when he suddenly got glomped by Momo and Kikumaru.

"You weren't listening earlier?" Ayame asked as Ryoma's oxygen supply started to cut off from the suffocating hugging. "I told them that they shouldn't hug ya until you regain your memories back. Now that you have them back, they can give you a proper greeting now."

"Ah, that's right!" Oishi said suddenly. "Echizen, we're all going down to the beach tomorrow. Do you want to come with us?"

"The beach?" Ayame said, her eyes shining excitedly. "I wanna go!"

"You can come too, Kanna," Oishi said.

Ryoma thought he glimpsed something sinister in Ayame's eyes. He wasn't quite sure how a beach trip with his senpai-tachi would go if Ayame was involved. His first thought was that she might do something crazy.

 _Whenever we went to the beach, she did nothing wrong..._ his thoughts reminded him. _I can't remember what we used to do back then, but as far as I could remember, nothing out of the ordinary._

Ayame called her father, and he allowed her to go with the tennis team to the beach. Ryoma pushed all his doubts aside and decided to go. After all, what else could possibly go wrong on a trip to the beach, even with Ayame involved?

* * *

 **No, Ayame did not call him Ahobe on purpose. To some extent, she's like Ryoma in the habits of forgetting people, but it only applies to names outside of Seigaku. With that said, she just calls anybody whatever she wants. Anyway, in the Gakuensai no Ouji-sama ~More Sweet Edition~ game, apparently Kintaro called Atobe "Ahobe" because "Atobe always does foolish things," and I thought it was the most golden nickname ever for Atobe. I couldn't help but to make it so that Ayame mistakes his name as "Ahobe" because of her bad memory on names.  
**

 ***SPOILER* The whole reason I wrote this chapter is so that it explains why Ryoma forgets Ryoga again during the U-17 Camp in New Prince of Tennis. Because it wouldn't make a lot of sense if he's been hanging with him in America and just suddenly ups and forgets him. I still am following the plot in the original Prince of Tennis, I'm just currently on the period of time between the end of the series and the beginning of New Prince of Tennis.**


	32. A Day at the Beach

**Chapter 32: A Day at the Beach**

"Huh?! So you've never surfed before, Ayame-chan?!" Momo exclaimed.

"No," Ayame answered.

Ayame had gone to the beach with the Seigaku tennis club, and she was out in the middle of the sea on a surfboard with Momo and Ryoma. Fuji was also out on the sea, and the rest of the Seigaku members were grilling back at the shore. Ayame wanted Ryoma and Momo to teach her how to surf so she could join them.

"There aren't any waves around," Ryoma said after looking around. "Ne, Momo-senpai. How about we race to see who can get to Fuji-senpai first? Last one there has to buy juice."

"So you guys are gonna race on surfboards?" Ayame asked.

"You want to go too?" Momo asked her.

"Yeah," Ayame answered.

Ryoma and Momo already set off towards Fuji. Ayame was struggling to keep up with them, as her arms weren't strong enough to catch up to the boys. After sometime of lagging behind, she lowered the lower half of her body into the water and propelled herself forward by kicking. She managed to pass up Ryoma and Momo and reached Fuji first.

"That was pretty good, Kanna," Fuji remarked. "I didn't know you were capable of moving quickly on water."

"I can run on water," Ayame said. "But it's so tiring. And pushing against it makes it harder to move."

"So you've been keeping that a secret from Echizen?"

"What makes you think that?"

"He looks shocked."

Ayame looked back to see that Ryoma was indeed stunned that she can move that quickly if she used her legs. Momo had the same expression as well.

"No..." Ayame said. "It's just my legs are a lot stronger than my arms... Ryoma knows that, but I wonder why he never applied it to this..."

After sometime, Ryoma and Momo finally got to Ayame and Fuji.

"Took you long enough," Ayame said. "Now you both owe me some Ponta! And make it the cherry flavor!"

"Ayame-chan, you can move that fast on water?" Momo asked.

"On a surfboard, I suppose..." Ayame answered. "But without one, I move faster."

"Huh?" Momo was confused.

"Ayame can run on water," Ryoma explained.

"Well hey, if you spent most of your training into your legs, this is the result," Ayame said. "But then again, not training my arm strength went back to bite me. Ryoma would've wrecked me in so many matches if we were to play each other back then."

Ayame then cringed.

"What's wrong?" Fuji asked.

"Oishi-senpai is really loud," Ayame remarked as she clapped a hand to her ear that was pointed at the shore. "What the hell is he all worked up about?"

"Eh? You can hear Oishi-senpai from all the way out here?" Momo asked.

"Her five senses are very sharp," Ryoma explained. "That's how she heard you and Eiji-senpai when she first came to the school and met up with me."

"Yeah..." Ayame said. "It was really scary when Rikkai's buchou almost stole them away from me. But anyway, speaking of Oishi-senpai... Why is he yelling? I've never heard him snap like that before."

"That's right, everyone else is grilling..." Fuji said. "Oishi is the Yakiniku Bugyou." ( **A/N: "bugyou" means "dictator" or "magistrate". Take your pick.** )

"Yakiniku Bugyou...?" Ayame repeated, confused.

"Ayame-chan wasn't there," Momo reminded Fuji.

"Oh, right," Fuji said. "Kanna, do you remember when we were going out for yakiniku, but you couldn't come because you were studying your homework?"

"Oh yeah," Ayame said. "What about it?"

"We were having some argument over which is better on yakiniku, salt or sauce," Fuji began to tell the story. "But right then, Oishi snapped and started yelling at us, telling us that the most important part of yakiniku is the meat juice."

"Oishi-senpai did that?" Ayame asked in disbelief.

"... If you see it, you'll believe us..." Ryoma said.

A small wave then came along, and a broken bottle that was patched with tape drifted to the Seigaku students. There was a note inside and a piece of calligraphy.

"Oi, is that a message in that bottle?" Ayame asked.

Ryoma scooped the bottle out of the water.

"Seems like so," Fuji said. "Echizen, open it."

Ryoma pulled on the cork and opened the bottle. The four Seigaku students read the note, saying to leave an item inside of the bottle.

"I don't have anything on me," Ayame said. "I'm a little hungry, so I'm going back to eat some yakiniku. You guys do whatever you want with the bottle."

Ayame paddled her way back to shore and saw that Oishi was still going berserk with the remainder of the Seigaku regulars plus Ryuzaki-sensei about yakiniku. She became surprised as soon as her eyes set on the sight, and she felt her muscles going stiff at the same time her eyes lost their focal points. The tennis members finish grilling the yakiniku under Oishi's supervision, and Ayame wasn't aware of that. She was finally spotted by the group.

"Kanna, call Echizen, Momoshiro, and Fuji back," Tezuka said to her.

Ayame didn't respond.

"... Kanna?" Tezuka said quizzically.

Ayame blinked and her eyes went back into focus. "Huh...? Oh, yeah, I'll call them back. Ryomaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Momoshiro-senpaaaaaaaaaai! Fuji-senpaaaaaaaaaai! Come on back here!"

After a few moments of waiting, Ayame was able to see the small figures of the three boys.

 _They're moving too slow..._ she thought.

"Hurry up and get over here!" she called in a tone like as if she was going to stab them. "If you don't make it back here within thirty seconds, I'll bury your asses right here in the sand!"

"Whoa, that's scary, Ayame-chan!" Kikumaru remarked.

Right then, the three boys out on the sea began to pick up the pace.

"Th-that was a joke, right?" Kawamura asked nervously.

"No, it wasn't," Ayame answered. "I'd even do it if it was Ryoma. He still acts like a bastard to me, so I'm looking for some way to get revenge on him."

Ayame then went to grab some yakiniku.

"Was Ayame-chan for real when she said she'd bury us for being too slow?" Momo asked Ryoma as they both got onto the shore with Fuji.

"Yes," Ryoma said. "Once when some kid destroyed her sand castle in a sandbox on purpose and didn't apologize, she buried him to the bottom of the sandbox in revenge."

"Eh?! How old was she back then?" Momo asked.

"Seven," Ryoma answered in a rather too casual tone.

"She was like this when she was seven as well?!"

Ryoma shrugged. "She was always like this when I first met her."

Ayame went over to Ryoma and sat down next to him.

"A-are we gonna die if we eat th-this?" she asked him, her voice quivering.

"Why do you ask that?" Ryoma asked.

"Oishi-senpai was going crazy and now I'm really scared," Ayame said. "I'm not even sure if he kills people for eating yakiniku or if they grill it wrong..."

"Can't you just kick him then?"

"Yeah, if he really will take my eyes out with those chopsticks..."

Ayame began to eat, while cautiously surveying her surroundings for an insane Oishi if he were to strike her. She finished her food without anything happening.

"Ryoma, can you teach me how to surf?" Ayame asked.

"Fine," Ryoma answered.

"Well, I'll be waiting out on the sea for you."

Ayame got up and grabbed her surfboard. She paddled out to the sea and sat there, waiting for Ryoma to come over. After some twelve minutes, Ryoma and Momo joined her.

"Oh yeah, what did you do with that bottle?" Ayame asked.

"We colored the tape and replaced the cork with a tennis ball," Momo answered. "Then Echizen hit it with his racket when a big wave came by."

"Why the hell were you carrying your racket all the way out here?!" Ayame yelled at Ryoma. "And why were you guys carrying a tennis ball around at sea for?!"

A huge wave soon rose, and Ryoma and Momo began to teach and demonstrate Ayame on how to surf. Ayame tried to follow them, but she lost her balance and fell off of the surfboard.

"I thought she had good balance..." Ryoma remarked as he stared at the spot where Ayame disappeared under the surface.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Momo asked.

"She should be," Ryoma answered.

The two boys waited for a bit, but they did not see Ayame resurface.

"Oi, Echizen..." Momo started nervously. "Hasn't she been down there for way too long?"

Ryoma felt uneasy right when Momo said that, but they still stared at the spot where she had disappeared.

"It's been way too long!" Momo suddenly said, panicked. "This is bad, Echizen! Ayame-chan is drowning!"

Before the boys could do anything, a force tipped them off of their surfboards. They swam back up to the surface to see Ayame.

"Gotcha!" she said with a mischievous smirk.

"O-oi, Ayame-chan!" Momo said. "You weren't drowning?!"

"Nah," Ayame said. "I swam around behind you boys and surfaced, and then I went back down. Did you seriously think that I can't swim or what?"

Ryoma sighed. He had been having the feeling that Ayame was going to do something like that, and felt skeptical about her drowning in the sea. She had strong legs, so there really isn't any way for her to drown... unless her legs were sore or she was attacked by a shark... or something like that. If that was the case, he should've been able to notice any signs.

"Really! Don't give me such a shock!" Momo was not happy about panicking about something that didn't happen.

"Surfing is a lot harder than I thought," Ayame remarked. "But geez, do sea creatures use a lot of air conditioners or what? It was cold at the bottom down there!"

The three students climbed back onto their surfboards. They waited, but a wave never formed.

"This is boring," Ayame said. "I'm going back. Call me if some more waves come up."

Ayame paddled her way back to land and began digging a hole near the spot the rest of the Seigaku students were. After digging a decently deep hole, she made multiple trips to the sea, picking up wet sand, and going back to gather dry sand. After that, she began building a sand wall like as if building a fort.

It was some ten minutes later when the Seigaku regulars on the sand heard a shout.

"SANDBALL FIGHT!" the voice shouted.

Almost instantly after that, they were suddenly pelted with a barrage of ball-shaped sand. Tezuka looked over to see Ayame behind her wall of sand, hurling the sand at them.

 _So that's what she's been doing earlier..._ he thought as everything she had done earlier finally occurred to him.

From an outsider's perspective, it looked like as though she was playing in the sand, but in reality, she dug the hole to store her balls of sand and built a sand wall to protect herself if someone were to retaliate.

Ayame's attack erupted into a chaotic sandball fight between the Seigaku members, minus the ones who were still out at sea – Ryoma and Momo. Soon after the fight became chaotic, the two boys out on the sea heard the commotion.

"What's happening over there?" Ryoma wondered.

Right then, a ball of sand came flying right at him and slammed into him. It was aimed precisely at the center of his face.

"Did that come from all the way over there?!" Momo exclaimed as he stared back at land.

 _With that sharp accuracy, it's gotta be her..._ Ryoma thought, trying to keep his cool. _But how could she have flung it from all the way over there?_

Another sandball came hurling from land, this time hitting Momo. Ryoma ducked low and slowly paddled back toward land to see that Ayame was indeed flinging sandballs at them from land.

Ayame stared down at her hand. _All those matches dealing with Ryoma's power shots... It's finally paying off... I can fling this so far away now..._

Momo made his way back to land and joined in on the sandball fight, while Ryoma stayed out on the sea, not wanting to be involved. Ryoma stared as the rest of his senpai-tachi plus Ayame kept throwing sandballs, and he went to another part of the beach to avoid the chaos and maybe find a spot to take a nap.

"Echizen-kun!" a voice called out to him.

Ryoma turned to see Rokkaku's tennis team.

"What's going on over there?" Saeki asked.

"A fight," Ryoma simply answered.

The Rokkaku regulars became alarmed.

"A fight?! What happened over there?!" Kisarazu asked.

"Ayame started it," was all Ryoma said.

"Who?" Saeki asked.

"My friend, Kanna Ayame," Ryoma answered.

"Wasn't she the Seigaku girl who kept wandering the grounds during the Nationals?" Kurobane asked.

"If you mean the one with the long black hair and the light blue eyes, then that's her," Ryoma said.

"Ah... yeah, that girl," Kurobane said.

"What's she like?" Kentaro asked, interested.

"Hmm..." Ryoma stopped to think on how to describe Ayame. "She kicks people."

"She's violent?!" Kentaro asked in disbelief.

"... Yeah," Ryoma sighed.

Ryoma gets exasperated when he sees people overreact whenever they hear that Ayame was violent. To him, it wasn't something to make a big deal out of.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Itsuki asked.

"It's impossible," Ryoma said. "Ayame is beyond anyone's control."

It was then a flurry of sandballs came out of nowhere and pelted the Rokkaku regulars. Ryoma noticed that Ayame was flinging sandballs at them as well, and he ran for cover before he got hit. Thinking that there was no way he could find a spot to take a nap, Ryoma climbed back onto his surfboard and stayed a few feet away from land. He looked back to see that the Rokkaku regulars joined in on the fight. Sweat dropping, Ryoma mentally added down one more thing on his list to never take Ayame to other than parties: to the beach with your tennis team.


	33. Ayame and Rikkaidai

**OK, next chapter up. This one has been done and not uploaded for at least a week because I was debating whether I should throw this one thing in this chapter or not. In the end, I decided to just suck it up and put it on there anyway because maybe some Ryoma fans might find it interesting... or even shocking. Anyway, you'll see it eventually when you keep reading...  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 33: Ayame and Rikkaidai**

Ayame ran down the road, not paying attention to anything in particular. She decided to run towards the south and see how far she can run. She had been at it for over an hour.

She eventually found herself at a beach. No sooner did three minutes pass until she heard what appeared to be people screaming in agony. This grabbed her attention as she skidded to a halt. Curiosity getting the better of her, Ayame tracked the direction of the screaming and found herself at the front gates of Rikkaidai Fuzoku Chuu. She then realized that she was in Kanagawa.

 _What were they screaming about?_ Ayame wondered. _I'm a Seigaku student, so I can't get caught if I were to see myself..._

Ayame climbed the school gate and ran along it to track the source of the screaming. When it was deeper in the campus, she climbed a tree and began leaping from tree to tree to go further in. She tracked the source to the tennis courts and the first thing she saw were what she thought were corpses of the tennis club members. But when she got closer, she noticed that the members were passed out, with the exception of Renji and Sanada.

 _What in the world happened there?_ Ayame's thoughts ran as she tried to move in closer.

As she got a better view of the scene, she noticed that Sanada was in tears. She forced herself to hold back her laugh, and then in the court, she noticed a table. On the table were a bunch of cups filled with an ominous-colored liquid.

 _Inui Juice!_ her horrified thoughts screamed.

As soon as her mind registered the familiar, deadly drink, she shrieked, lost her balance, and fell out of the tree she was hiding in. She plummeted down, and her right arm hit the ground first, followed by the rest of her body with a _thud_. Her shriek did not go unheard, however. Renji heard her and he looked over at her initial direction.

"Kanna...?" he said as he recognized the motionless girl lying on the ground.

 _Don't move!_ Ayame's thoughts commanded her as she heard Renji approaching. _You've already been found, so pretend that you passed out!_

"Kanna, it's no use," Renji said. "I know you're not unconscious."

Ayame got up as she clutched her right arm in pain from the impact of hitting the ground, cursing herself for being careless.

"Wh-why the hell is Inui-senpai's drink here?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"Ah, the Ging'ale? That was what Sadaharu and I made together last night," Renji answered.

"You and Inui-senpai did WHAT?!" Ayame hollered in shock.

Right then, Yukimura arrived at the courts.

"Minna, are you having fun playing te—?" he called out, but cut himself off at the sight of the "corpses" on the court.

"Ah, Seiichi's finally here," Renji said as he looked back.

"Who's Seiichi?" Ayame asked seriously.

Renji's eyes nearly popped open at Ayame's question. _Is she joking?_

"Ohhhh, he's Yukimura-san!" Ayame eyes widened in realization as she spotted Yukimura.

"Huh? Why is everyone sleeping on the floor?" Yukimura wondered.

Ayame looked up to see Yukimura's confused expression. _They don't know about Inui Juice?_

"Sanada!" Yukimura cried out in shock to his best friend, who was the only one still on his two feet.

Ayame followed Renji as he walked back to the courts.

"Kanna-chan?" Yukimura said quizzically as soon as he spotted the girl. "What are you doing here?"

"Your friend here just murdered the entire tennis club with poison!" Ayame exclaimed.

"Poison...?" Yukimura repeated, bemused.

"Th-that..." Ayame pointed at the table, using her left hand.

Yukimura looked at where Ayame pointed and noticed the drinks.

"He made that with Inui-senpai..." Ayame said. "Is he Inui-senpai's partner in crime now?"

Renji and Yukimura gave her a look like as though she said the weirdest thing they have ever heard. Ayame then groaned as the pain in her right arm shot up.

"What happened to your arm?" Yukimura asked.

"She fell out of that tree over there," Renji explained. "Speaking of that, you have not answered Seiichi's question. What are you doing here?"

"I was running," Ayame simply answered.

"What does that have to do with this?" Renji asked.

"I heard the death cries coming from here so I decided to investigate," Ayame answered. "And it turned out that you were secretly working with Inui-senpai to kill more people..."

Upon listening to her words, Renji was not quite sure if she was as crazy as Shitenhouji's super rookie or if she was worse.

"Oh hey, why is the gorilla guy crying?" Ayame asked.

"Who...?" Yukimura knew that Ayame tends to be quite erratic in her behavior and speech, but this was going a bit too far.

"Him," Ayame pointed at Sanada.

When Yukimura processed that Ayame had called Sanada a gorilla, he stifled a laugh.

"Well, anyway, sorry, I gotta go, I think I broke my arm again..." Ayame said as she winced.

"You broke your arm once before?" Yukimura asked.

"Yes," Ayame sighed. "It was because I was trying to rescue a puppy from a tree before I left for America. I fell out of the tree and landed on my left arm. It broke."

"Renji, take her to the infirmary," Yukimura ordered.

Ayame followed Renji as they went into the school and to the infirmary room. When they left the courts, Ayame breathed a sigh of relief. Renji noticed, and was confused.

"Were you afraid of something back there?" Renji asked.

"The Inui Juice and Yukimura-san..." Ayame answered.

"Seiichi?" Renji said quizzically. "Why were you afraid of Seiichi? I thought you two were pretty good acquaintances."

"I dunno why, but now every time I'm near him and a tennis court at the same time, I keep feeling like as if my five senses will get stolen..."

Ayame was also scared of one more thing about Yukimura that she did not mention. She was afraid that Yukimura might be holding a grudge against her ever since she ruined the Ocean Festival, and that he would punish her by taking away her five senses. Her five senses were extremely valuable to her, so more than anything, she did not want them taken away.

"That's right, you were playing with him during the Nationals while you were waiting for Echizen to come," Renji said. "You had nearly lost your five senses then."

 _I've got some interesting data..._ he then thought after hearing Ayame speak for a bit.

After checking on Ayame's arm injury, the doctor told her that her arm wasn't broken. She sighed in relief, since breaking her right arm would've been worse than when she broke her left arm.

 _Then that would mean I can't play tennis with at least 50% of my real strength for weeks..._ Ayame shuddered at the thought. _Thank God my whole body didn't land on my arm this time..._

Ayame followed Renji back to the tennis courts, where a few of the Ging'ale victims were recovering from the drink's wrath.

"So how is Echizen-kun?" Yukimura asked Ayame.

"Why does everybody talk about Ryoma to me...?" Ayame sighed, but then she answered the question. "He's doing fine. Being rude to everyone as usual."

"What are you going to do now?" Yukimura asked.

Ayame shrugged. "I stopped by here while running just to see what the screaming was all about, but since that's done with, I really have no business being here. I guess I should catch a train home..."

Ayame then decided to stay and watch Rikkaidai's practice as soon as the rest of the regulars recovered. She said that she wasn't spying, but she just wanted to watch their practice. The regulars soon went into playing practice matches with each other, and Ayame stood next to Yukimura, who was watching.

"You want them to learn to have fun with tennis to unlock Tenimuhou no Kiwami?" Ayame asked.

"That's right," Yukimura replied.

"It's that hard for them? I can use Tenimuhou no Kiwami."

"You can use it too?"

"Well, yeah. There's no way I'd let Ryoma get ahead of me so easily! I'm still trying to beat him in terms of winning more matches. But that bastard and I are tied with 40 wins and 40 losses each."

"... Kanna-chan, can you demonstrate to us?"

"I can't do it that easily. I can only do it when I feel like I really want to play a match against someone strong."

"In that case, do you want to play against me or Sanada?"

"N-no... not you... you'd just steal away my five senses like you almost did last time! And gorilla guy looks crazy strong! I can't compete with his physical strength!"

Ayame was truthful about playing Yukimura, but she was lying about playing a match with Sanada. Although she liked to talk with Yukimura, despite how uncomfortable he made her when he was next to her near a tennis court, she was not one to give up her secrets easily to an outsider school.

Unfortunately for Sanada, Ayame was shouting when she was declining the matches, so the entire tennis club heard her call him gorilla. This caused all eyes to turn to her. Ayame began having that same uncomfortable feeling like when she got Atobe's name wrong.

 _Are they... gonna laugh?_ she wondered.

It was then nearly the entire tennis club started laughing. The only ones who were fighting to keep a straight face were the regulars. Sanada looked like as though he saw the entire tennis club slacking off.

"TARUNDORU!" he shouted, silencing everyone suddenly.

 _Wh-whoa... that was scary..._ Ayame thought, intimidated, as her ears felt agonizing pain from Sanada's shout.

"That was pretty good, Kanna-chan," Yukimura whispered to her, sending chills down her spine.

Ayame felt as though Yukimura was giving off a vibe that was similar to Fuji's. "N-no... I heard that strange kid from Osaka call him that, so that's what I went with. I don't know his name."

"Is that so?" Yukimura asked, skeptical of her claim since she was there when he called Sanada by name.

"Yeah, what was his name again?" Ayame asked.

"Sanada Genichirou," Yukimura answered after he realized that she wasn't joking around this time.

"I see," Ayame said as club practice resumed back to normal.

 _That boy has an interesting girlfriend..._ Yukimura thought as he eyed the young girl.

Ayame felt that her ponytail was a mess, so she untied her hair.

"So that's how you look with your hair down..." Yukimura remarked.

"Yeah, I like to keep it down," Ayame said, and began tying back her hair again. "But I tie it back when I'm exercising or playing tennis. For some reason, Ryoma likes it better when I have my hair tied back in a ponytail like this." **(A/N: read the A/N at the very bottom for further explanation on her words.)**

Ayame soon grew bored of watching the Rikkai regulars' practice, so she sat down, took her Gameboy Advance out, and turned it on. Yukimura soon felt a very heavy tension in the air near him, and he realized it was coming from Ayame playing her gaming system. She was pounding on the buttons more violently than earlier, and she had a frustrated expression on her face.

"... Kanna-chan?" Yukimura called.

Ayame kept playing and made no indication of hearing him. Yukimura called her name again, and still she didn't respond. Ayame continued pushing buttons, and right when she was about to win, all of the sudden her vision went black and she couldn't feel the Gameboy Advance in her hands.

"KYAAAAA!" she screamed like as though she saw a man-eating book.

It was then she realized that she lost her five senses, since she couldn't hear herself, and assumed that it was Yukimura's doing. Her scream had caught the attention of the tennis club members as they looked over to see why she suddenly started screaming. She jumped up and then suddenly started emitting a blinding light. When the light ceased, her hair was spiking up, and she regained her vision.

"That's Tenimuhou no Kiwami!" Jackal exclaimed.

 _Huh... she can use it outside of tennis too...?_ Sanada thought.

"Oi, Yukimura-san!" Ayame said, almost in an accusing tone. "Did you steal my five senses?!"

"I didn't do anything," Yukimura said innocently.

Ayame still suspected Yukimura anyway, but she decided to let it slide. It was then her hair came back down, signaling that she stopped activating the Tenimuhou no Kiwami.

"Yukimura-san, every time I'm near you and a tennis court, you give me the same pressure like when I faced Tezuka-senpai..." Ayame muttered.

"You played Tezuka?" Sanada asked.

"Yes," Ayame answered. "I beat him. But that was because I activated Tenimuhou no Kiwami at the last game where he would've beaten me. If I didn't know how to activate it, Tezuka-senpai would've utterly beaten me... And I resorted to using my Smoke Bomb when I realized on the last game that he could make a comeback."

"I see... Why do you feel pressure whenever you're near me and a tennis court then?" Yukimura asked.

"Because I keep thinking you'll steal away my five senses..." Ayame answered.

"Why are you so afraid to lose your five senses outside of tennis?" Niou asked.

Ayame felt great irritation, as she took it as an offense when somebody thinks that she's not taking her five senses for granted. "WELL IT'S BECAUSE MY FIVE SENSES ARE VERY SHARP AND THAT'S WHAT I USE TO SURVIVE WHEN I'M ALONE! WHY DO YOU THINK I WAS SCREAMING LIKE A GIRL—okay, I am a girl, but, you know—WHEN I SUDDENLY LOST MY FIVE SENSES?"

The club members were intimidated at her yelling, but what they thought was really weird was that she went calm for an instant in the middle of it.

"Ne, how long have you been here?" a voice called out.

Everyone looked over to the source of the voice.

"Ryoma!" Ayame said, surprised and glad to see her friend.

"Echizen? What are you doing here?" Sanada asked.

"She forgot her cell phone again," Ryoma answered as he stepped into the court and handed the cell phone to Ayame.

"Dammit, I forgot again?!" Ayame exclaimed in a frustrated tone.

"It took me a long time to figure out that you went all the way down here..." Ryoma said. "Funny how you're very responsible, yet you keep forgetting your cell phone."

"Sorry for making you come down here just to give it to me..." Ayame apologized. "How did you find out I was here?"

"I was asking the senpai-tachi if they've seen you, and Inui-senpai said that you were at Rikkaidai. So I took a train to get here."

"Oh. How did Inui-senpai know?"

"Apparently his friend here texted him when he supposedly found you here."

"Ah... his partner in crime?" Ayame was wondering since when did Renji text Inui, since she never saw him take out a cell phone or anything.

Ryoma became confused. "Nani...?"

Ayame pointed at Renji. "Him, right?"

"Ah... yeah. Yanagi-san."

"That's his name?"

"Yeah."

All of the club members pratfalled in shock when Ayame indirectly said that she didn't know Renji's name. The two Seigaku freshmen made no indication of noticing, and continued their conversation.

"Why were you here anyway?" Ryoma asked.

"I really didn't have any business here, I was just investigating here because Inui-senpai and his partner in crime killed Rikkai's tennis club," Ayame answered.

Ryoma cringed like as though Ayame shoved a pitcher of Aozu in front of his face. "Inui Juice?"

"Yeah."

"Is that why you called Yanagi-san Inui-senpai's partner in crime?"

"Well, yeah. They took out like an entire tennis club with those hellish drinks. I don't even know why they bothered to drink it in the first place."

"Could it be that they didn't know how deadly the drink was?"

"They played against you guys in the Kanto finals. Shouldn't they find out by then?"

"No. Inui-senpai doesn't serve his drinks in the middle of a tournament. He just stands around and collects data."

"I see. So none of the other schools know about how scary the drinks are, right?"

"Actually, there are some who already know."

"Who are they?"

"Hyotei, Rokkaku, Higa, and Shitenhouji."

 _Inui-senpai's reign of terror already started long ago then..._ Ayame thought, but then continued talking. "Since when did they find out?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot you weren't there. On the night we went out for yakiniku, we had a yakiniku eating contest with those guys, and Inui Juice was involved in it."

Ayame flinched. "There were probably a lot of deaths... What about you? Were you okay?"

"I lost consciousness in the middle of it."

"Oof. How?" Ayame was pretty sure that Ryoma would have the brains to not drink an Inui Juice if he saw one.

"I drank an Inui Juice because I thought it was a regular cola."

"That's gotta hurt... But if all the drinks were Inui Juice, what made you think that it would be regular cola? Knowing Inui-senpai, he'd do anything to make anyone drink his glass of poison."

"It's not poison."

"I don't care. Poison or no poison, it's toxic to me."

Ryoma then remembered that the first time Ayame had tasted Inui Juice, she ended up petrified. Even though the one she drank was one of the weaker ones, she still overreacted due to her strong sense of taste, and the result was a slight pathological fear of Inui Juice (Inui calculated that she took in the taste five times more than normal).

Pulling out of his thoughts, Ryoma continued the conversation. "By the way, you should stop carrying a lot of heavy stuff in your bag."

"Why do you say that?"

"Your natural posture is starting to look slouchy."

"That's harsh. You didn't have to put it THAT way..."

At this point, one question ran through the minds of the regulars: how are they both able to get along? Although they have never seen direct interaction between the two, this is a short-tempered girl and a sassy boy they were looking at here.

"Want to go at it, bastard?" Ayame asked, glancing at the courts.

"Here? Fine by me," Ryoma answered.

"I won't lose to you this time."

"Heh... you think you can beat me? Try it, then."

Ayame pulled her tennis racket out of her bag. Ryoma took his out as well. The tension in the air began to grow heavy, and the Rikkai members did nothing to stop the two freshmen. They were mostly interested on how a match between Seigaku's freshman regular who defeated their captain and his best friend would go, and wanted to see what kind of moves they'll throw at each other.

Ryoma unzipped his jacket and dumped it into Sanada's hands. "Hold this for me."

"Wh-what?! O-oi!" Sanada protested, but Ryoma ignored him as he went to the court.

As soon as both Seigaku freshmen got into position, their hair began to spike up and they began to emit an insanely bright flash of light.

" _You still have lots more to work on,_ " they said at the same time as they activated Tenimuhou no Kiwami.

Ryoma hit a quick serve, and then they both began rallying at an insanely fast speed. It was so fast that the Rikkai members could not see the ball, and only the two Seigaku freshmen were able to see it.

The score was soon tied at 4-4.

" _Hey, Ryoma,_ " Ayame said. " _Want to make this match even crazier? Let's play using our weaker hand._ "

" _Interesting,_ " Ryoma remarked. " _I'll take you on._ "

Kirihara frowned. The two freshmen were speaking the language that he has a hard time learning: English.

"Yagyuu-senpai, what were they saying?" Kirihara asked.

"They said they'll play with their non-dominant hand now," Yagyuu answered.

"She asked him to play like that for a reason," Renji said.

"Why?" Bunta asked.

"Earlier before you regained consciousness, Kanna had fallen out of a tree and hit her right arm on the ground, which is, as you can see, her dominant hand," Renji began to explain. "She did not break her arm, but it is still injured. She knows that she won't last throughout the match if she keeps it up, so she got Echizen to play his weaker hand, and she is playing with hers to relieve the pain and to be on an even level with him."

The rallies dragged on in a flash until the freshmen were at a tiebreak. The score had shot up to the 500's within a half hour. When it was at 506-505, the aura around both freshmen dissipated. The sudden loss of energy caused them to collapse, and the ball landed on Ryoma's side.

"506-506..." Ayame declared, panting.

She tried to get up, but lacked the energy to stand. Ryoma did not get up either.

"Another tie..." she uttered. "40 wins... 40 losses... and 13 ties now..."

It was right then everyone else noticed that Ryoma had not moved since he collapsed.

"Did he faint...?" Jackal asked.

Ayame crawled over to Ryoma's side of the court and lifted his head up. She looked into his face.

"You insensitive jackass, did you have to fall asleep again?!" she screamed at him.

It reminded the Rikkai regulars minus Yukimura the time they found out that Ryoma passed out shortly after beating Kirihara in a match, only to notice on closer inspection he was sleeping. Except this time add in one crazy "girlfriend."

"Well, this is technically all we do whenever we play seriously," Ayame sighed. "It's either one of us wins or lasts longer through our Tenimuhou no Kiwami war or we both fall at the same time. And lemme say that doing a Tenimuhou no Kiwami war with Ryoma is crazy intense, yet thrilling at the same time. And somehow he can still catch up with me on a Tenimuhou no Kiwami war if he had amnesia only twenty minutes beforehand."

"Amnesia?" Sanada repeated.

"Ah, yeah," Ayame sighed as she recalled it. "I was playing kickball in America and I sent the ball flying and it happened to hit him in the noggin. I helped get his memories back by forcing Seigaku and Hyotei to help."

Ayame waited until she can stand before she slung Ryoma onto her back. "This is like the ninth time he fell asleep on me whenever we tied... I think I should do something this time so this bastard won't rely on me to carry him around."

"You do this all the time?" Bunta asked.

"Pretty much," Ayame answered. "At this point it's like a running gag so he could get the last laugh on me or something. I know that it's not good for a guy to treat a lady this way, but no matter what happens, I'm always going to have to watch over him anyway."

 _Since when were you a lady?_ most of the club members thought, as they saw her as more of a cunning demon.

"You're like an aneki, Kanna-chan," Yukimura remarked, amused.

"Even though he's older than me..." Ayame sighed. "Even though he tells me that I act too childish. But that's the kind of bastard he is. I get used to it."

Ayame staggered to the fence and laid Ryoma against it. Then she crouched down and pulled off an uppercut on him, waking him up and shocking the Rikkai members.

"Ayame!" Ryoma protested after snapping out of his daze.

"Don't whine to me!" Ayame said in a scornful tone. "You keep on freaking falling asleep on me and I have to carry you on my back every single time! I ain't gonna put up with this anymore!"

"Then you should work on your strength more."

"What the hell, don't expect me to do it every single time for you! Fine! Next time, I'm dragging you along the ground whether you like it or not! Then you have an excuse to take more baths!"

"They even fight like siblings..." Jackal remarked.

"They sure are full of energy, even though they collapsed about eight minutes ago," Renji remarked.

"Do they really get along...?" Niou wondered.

After both freshmen calmed down, Ryoma noticed Sanada still holding onto his jacket.

"Why are you holding my jacket?" Ryoma demanded, giving Sanada a death glare like as if he was a robber.

"You dumbass, you dumped your jacket onto him before we started our match!" Ayame shouted at Ryoma.

The regulars stared at Ayame like as if she suddenly started handing out candy. She actually said something smart for once. Ayame noticed the stares at her.

"What?" she demanded. "OK, I have my moments, but that doesn't mean that I'm dumb!"

Ayame walked over to Sanada and took the jacket.

"Gomenasai," she said. "I think his amnesia from the other day is still affecting his brain."

"What was that?" Ryoma demanded with clear irritation in his tone.

"You heard me," Ayame continued. "Or how the hell could you have forgotten that you gave your jacket to gorilla guy before we started our match?"

The club members had to hold back their laugh this time.

 _Yareyare, she forgot his name again..._ Yukimura thought in amusement. _I wonder if Tezuka has to put up with her every day since she's almost always with that boy..._

Yukimura did not know that at Seigaku's practice, Ayame would stand outside of the court and quietly watch.

"... You just called him a gorilla," Ryoma said after an awkward silence. "Are you picking up names from that noisy guy?"

"I suppose," Ayame sighed. "I really can't remember his name."

"You mean you can't remember Sanada-san?"

"I can't. Even though Yukimura-san told me his name already, I still forget."

"Mada mada dane."

"Look who's talking! You can't even remember faces of maybe nine or ten out of ten people in a crowd! You're in no position to say that I'm mada mada dane when you are!"

"At least remember his name. He's a National-level player."

"... Fine... I think I have a way to remember now."

"How so?"

"Sanada Yukimura from the Sengoku era! Yukimura-san is the buchou of this team, and Sanada-san is the fukubuchou! So they're Sanada Yukimura!"

All the Rikkai members pratfalled, with the exception of Yukimura, while Ryoma sweat dropped.

"Whatever," Ryoma finally said. "Ayame, your way of doing things are weird, but I guess it's okay as long as it works."

While Ryoma did find the way she remembered Sanada's name strange, he was wondering if Ayame actually paid attention that much to Japanese history.

"Well, we don't have any business here now, so why don't we go home?" Ayame suggested.

Both freshmen picked up their bags and left the Rikkai grounds, leaving the club members gaping in shock at the fact that the two kids had completely forgotten about them.

* * *

 **Fun fact: Sanada Yukimura was murdered by the Echizen clan. This is referenced in Prince of Tennis when Ryoma defeats Sanada and Yukimura.  
**

 **To those of you who need some reference, Kanagawa is neighboring the south side of Tokyo.**

 **If you've read the Manga, the Rikkaidai school is further inland, whereas in the anime, it's facing a beach. I had trouble deciding which one to go with, and in the end I decided on the anime counterpart.**

 **Apparently the Doki Doki Survival game had shown that Yukimura already knows that Sanada Yukimura thing. That's why he had no reaction when Ayame told her way of remembering Sanada.**

 **Some of you may know that Ryoma's favorite type is a girl who looks good in a ponytail. Before you go "WTF YOU DOING, YOU MAKING RYOMA HAVE PERVERTED FANTASIES?" (okay, you might've already started thinking that after Ayame indirectly makes a mention of Ryoma's favorite type, although she herself doesn't know), I'm still making an effort to keep the characters in character, and yes Ryoma does have perverted fantasies about girls with ponytails. It's not obvious due to him not being interested in girls, and he doesn't really interact with them... or with any girls with ponytails. However, there was one instance that proved everything. In Gakuensai no Oujisama, he tried to convince the protagonist to tie her hair back, after commenting that her hair was long. She then asked him if he wanted to see what she looked like with a ponytail (which caused him to go silent), but she tied it back anyway (I lol'd when he said "... Pony." in English). Maybe the game just proved that Nanjiroh had partially corrupted him. Either way, I wasn't expecting that when I played the game either.  
**


	34. Ayame's New Rival

**It took me five years to notice that _Kunoichi of Tennis_ was accepted into the "All PoT OC fics!" community after I put up chapter 33. I was honestly quite surprised that it happened, given that I haven't really heard from people much, my story lacks a straight plot (it's a bit more of a slice of life-ish sort of fanfic), it has a somewhat boring title and summary (because I suck at summaries), and that it's full of random slapstick humor that may or may not have gotten stale by now. Either way, I'm glad it was accepted into a community in the first place. Thank you all for your support.  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 34: Ayame's New Rival**

Ayame walked inside the arcade and saw a familiar person across the room playing at one of the machines. She went over to the person and looked at him closely. The person looked at her.

"Aren't you Echizen Ryoma's girlfriend?" the boy asked.

Ayame instantly kicked the boy. "No way in hell I'd be his girlfriend! Aren't you Rikkai's seaweed head?!"

"My name is Kirihara Akaya!" Kirihara said indignantly.

"Well my name is Kanna Ayame!" Ayame retorted in the same tone as him. "At least get my name right! I'm used to being referred as "Echizen's friend," but I'm not his girlfriend!"

"Fine, fine! Then don't call me seaweed head!"

"I'll call you that if you keep getting on my nerves. And if you're asking to die."

Kirihara hesitated, as he remembered that Ayame was not the kind of girl you should cross, especially since she beat up Sanada all because of the kissing scene in the Cinderella play. If Sanada couldn't fight her back, then he wouldn't do any better against her.

"What's wrong?" Ayame asked, wondering what Kirihara was thinking when he went silent.

"Nothing," Kirihara answered as Ayame's voice snapped him back to reality. "Do you come here often?"

"Not very often, but every once in a while."

"So you like to play games?"

"I like to play them? I LOVE to play them!" Ayame's eyes sparkled.

Kirihara sweat dropped at Ayame's enthusiasm. "Ah... I-I see..."

"You wanna play against me?"

"Nah, you're not good enough."

"Oh... those are some big words. Is it simply because you're too scared to play against a girl like me?"

"What was that?!"

"Oh, wow, Rikkai's second year ace is too scared to play against a girl in video games! How sad!" Ayame made a mental note to buy a can of Ponta for Ryoma later.

"I'll take you on! Let's go!"

Ayame walked over to the machine and took one side while Kirihara took the other. They began playing and in the end, Kirihara emerged the victor.

"See? You're not good enough. Now run home with your tail between your legs!" Kirihara said arrogantly.

"It's not over yet, seaweed head!" Ayame said, irked. "I was close that last round! I bet I can beat you next time! Unless you're gonna chicken out and not play me again because you knew I was good and you only won by a margin and you're too scared to go at it again!"

Again, Kirihara fell to Ayame's provocation and played another game with her. This time Ayame won. This prompted Kirihara to want to play another game with her, and the two middle schoolers kept at it, with each winning every other game. Their playing had attracted a crowd, as Kirihara was infamous in the arcade for being the best player, and Ayame was seemingly the only person who was at least around his level of playing. The two played until some customers complained that they were hogging the machine and they were forced to stop. Ayame decided to stop for the day.

"So in the end, we still tied in number of wins..." Ayame said.

"You're actually not bad, Kanna," Kirihara said. "But I won't lose to you next time."

"Same goes for you, Kirihara-san. You wanna go at it again tomorrow?"

"Bring it on."

"I was hoping for that answer. I'll take you on and beat you next time!"

With that, the Seigaku first year and the Rikkai second year went their own ways. Ayame made her way home, and when she was halfway there, she suddenly froze and glanced at her watch.

 _Damn!_ she swore. _I'm 30 minutes late for meeting with Ryoma at that tennis court! I spent too much time playing with that seaweed head!_

Ayame then ran full speed to the said tennis court and pushed the gate open to get inside. She saw Ryoma sitting at a bench, his body slumped forward.

"Gomen!" she called.

She ran over to the bench and noticed that Ryoma did not respond.

 _Don't tell me he's..._ her thoughts went.

She got close and noticed that his eyes were closed.

 _Of course..._ Ayame mentally did a facepalm.

Ayame started shaking Ryoma on the shoulder. "Ryoma, wake up!"

Ryoma groaned and slowly began opening his eyes. "Morning already...?"

"Ryoma, wake up already! It's noon and you fell asleep on the bench!" Ayame said. "Sorry I'm late by the way!"

Ryoma took a few moments to process that it was Ayame speaking and to remember why she said that. "Oh..."

Ayame watched as her friend rubbed his eyes and slowly stood up. She took out her racket and tied her hair back.

"Why were you late anyway?" Ryoma asked after he was fully awake. "It's not like you to be late."

"I was playing at the arcade," Ayame answered. "Got into a heated competition with a certain seaweed head."

"Kirihara-san, right?"

"Un."

"I see... Let's get started." Ryoma picked up his racket and walked to a court.

Ayame got on the other side of the court and the two activated Tenimuhou no Kiwami. They went into their usual high-speed rallies, and Ryoma ended up winning. A pissed Ayame wanted to play another match, which Ryoma agreed to, and this time Ayame won.

"What does this make it now?" Ryoma asked.

"We each have 47 wins and 47 losses now," Ayame answered.

Both freshmen put away their rackets and walked out of the court together. They headed for their neighborhood, and along the way they saw a vending machine. Ryoma decided to buy a Ponta, but before he could put his money in the machine, Ayame beat him to it and hit the button for the grape-flavored Ponta. She then handed the can to him.

"Doumo," Ryoma accepted the can after a moment of hesitation. "But why do you want to buy it for me?"

"I owe you one," Ayame answered.

"Owe me one for what?"

"For being the bastard you are now. It helped me get that seaweed head to play with me. He thought I wasn't worth his time just because I'm a girl."

"I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a compliment or not..."

"It's half and half!"

"Uh... okay..."

Ryoma wasn't sure what Ayame was getting at, but at least he didn't have to pay for the Ponta.

* * *

Ayame arrived at the arcade, entered, and looked around. Kirihara was nowhere in sight.

 _Not here yet..._ she thought. _Oh well, I can use some warming up..._

She went to the arcade machine and played a few games before she went back outside the arcade and waited. She didn't wait long until Kirihara showed up.

"Yo!" he greeted.

"Konnichiwa," Ayame greeted back.

"Are you always early like this?"

"Nah. I'm just a naturally fast runner."

"Oh yeah. You're a ninja."

"Not exactly. It's just what people call me in tennis all because I move like one. Anyway, enough chit-chat. Let's do this!"

Both middle schoolers got to the arcade machine and their intense competition began. They played for a few hours before stopping, and again none of them managed to get more total wins off each other.

"Oi, are you really good at tennis?" Ayame asked.

"Of course I am. I'm Rikkai's junior ace after all!" Kirihara answered confidently.

"Is that so? I bet I can beat you in a match without resorting to Tenimuhou no Kiwami."

"Oh... so you want to play against me in a match?"

"Exactly."

"Are you sure? You might end up in the hospital just like your senpai."

"Yeah, I know you were the one who injured Inui-senpai and Kaidoh-senpai. But that's because they're too slow."

"So you still wanna play against me?"

"Un."

"Well, if you get injured, don't say I didn't warn you."

The two went to a tennis court, Ayame being unaware of the danger she was putting herself to. Kirihara started with the serve, and Ayame immediately started going all-out by easily returning every ball with her speed. She managed to break serve, but she had already gone too far with pressuring Kirihara with her running around the courts too fast. It was then she noticed that his eyes had gone bloodshot.

"I'll crush you," Kirihara said with a menacing tone.

 _What does this mean...?_ she wondered, having an uneasy feeling.

Ayame remembered seeing Kirihara's eyes go bloodshot when she provoked him out of the toilet in the boys' bathroom, but she had never seen his eyes go bloodshot anywhere else. She disregarded her thoughts and then served. She noticed that Kirihara was moving faster and the balls were slightly heavier.

"0-15!"

Ayame hit a reverse Twist Serve this time.

"15-15!"

She held serve by repeatedly hitting reverse Twist Serves, having her lead 2-0. Kirihara pressed the ball with his knuckles and he served. Ayame, noting that he pressed the ball, prepared to return the ball, but was taken aback when the ball started flying right at her face. She narrowly avoided the ball as it missed her and hit the fence behind her.

"15-0!"

 _A Twist Serve...?_ she thought, not knowing that it was a Knuckle Serve.

Kirihara hit another Knuckle Serve. Ayame tried to return it as it was about to make contact with her face, but its power proved to be too great for her, and her racket was blown away.

"30-0!"

The next Knuckle Serve came, and this time Ayame ran up to it and hit a rising shot to return it... only it was still too strong and the ball ended up hitting the net.

 _If only I could hit a Kagerou Zutsumi..._ Ayame thought in frustration as Kirihara held serve. _But there's no way I can hit one with that ball flying at me..._

Ayame served, and they rallied until Kirihara hit a drop shot. She rushed up to it and accidentally lobbed. Kirihara leaped up to smash, and she read that he was aiming for her knee. She managed to react, push herself backward, avoid the smash, and return the ball with a rising shot.

"15-0!"

As the two rallied, Ayame felt pressure as she realized that Kirihara was continually aiming for her knee.

 _Was that what they meant by when you'll get injured playing him...?_ she thought numbly as she tried to concentrate at the same time.

It was then she wanted to end the game right away without forfeiting, but she already made the dare that she can beat Kirihara without using Tenimuhou no Kiwami.

 _I've got no choice..._ she sighed.

At her next serve, she hit a forward Smoke Bomb, which hit Kirihara in the face. This was her mistake. It caused Kirihara to tap into Devil Mode. Ayame nearly froze in fear at the sight of Kirihara's red skin, white hair, and maniacal laugh.

 _What is this?!_ her bewildered mind screamed. _Was this what Inui-senpai went through?!_

She resumed the game by serving again. Kirihara aimed for her knee again, and this time the speed was too much for her. She screamed in agony as the ball made contact with her right knee. Ayame brushed the pain aside and continued playing, but Kirihara relentlessly attacked her.

The game was soon at 4-2 in Kirihara's favor. Ayame, her right leg injured, panted and winced in pain.

 _I won't last through the whole game..._ the fact slowly crept into her mind. _I can't win this without Tenimuhou no Kiwami... But... I can't use it. I said I could beat him without it, but looks like I'm wrong... And now... he's gone mad. I can't stop him... unless I use the shuriken Gemini... but that'll get me in trouble with Yukimura-san... It looks like... I've got no choice now... I'll have to stop him in the best way possible without getting in trouble... I hope it works...  
_

Ayame forced herself to stand and waited for Kirihara's serve. He hit the ball to her right, trying to force her to run with her injured leg, but to his surprise, she appeared to teleport to the ball as she returned it.

"0-15!"

 _That one-footed Ninja Dash..._ Ayame thought. _It's a good thing I can use it for a situation like this..._

"Oi!" she called over to the net. "It's no use hitting the ball away from me! I can still dash on one foot!"

Kirihara got angrier and served again. This time he tried to attack her other leg, but Ayame, her left leg being her dominant, had no problem avoiding the balls shot at her leg. She took advantage of the ball close to her and launched an offensive Gemini. The fourteen fluke balls flew at Kirihara, and they each slammed into his head. This further provoked him, but Ayame relentlessly attacked Kirihara by launching Gemini fluke balls at his head.

Finally, after the sixty-seventh fluke ball hit Kirihara, he fell to the ground. Ayame stared at him from the other side of the court and waited. He did not move. She had finally knocked him out cold with her continued use of Gemini.

"I... won..." she panted.

She felt her pulse pounding against her ears, as she had felt terrified throughout the entire match after Kirihara began injuring her right leg. Limping, she made her way out of the court, leaving Kirihara behind. She feared that a familiar face would witness the scene, and she could potentially get in trouble. So she decided to flee the scene before that were to happen.

Ayame began making her way back home, and tried to think of a lie to tell Takeda. Surely he would interrogate her as to how she hurt her leg, but she couldn't simply say that she played with a student from another school and he had injured her. It would cause more trouble if more people were involved. She was still in deep thought when she almost bumped into someone.

"Ah, gomen!" she said hastily as soon as she realized, but then her eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Ryoma!"

"What happened to your leg?" Ryoma asked, gazing down at it.

"Nothing happened."

"You don't have to hide it."

Ayame sighed, as she felt that Ryoma's gaze was piercing through her. "You promise not to tell anyone?"

"I promise."

"OK... I played a match with Kirihara-san and he hurt my leg."

Ryoma's expression showed shock. "You played against him even though you knew that he hurts people when he plays tennis?"

"Un."

Ryoma went back to his usual, nonchalant (and boring, according to Ayame) expression and spoke solemnly. "Ayame... that's very bad. What will your old man say?"

"That's why I wasn't looking where I was going. I was trying to think of a lie."

"I see... How was the match?"

"I won. 3-5."

Ryoma's eyes narrowed in confusion. If he were to hear a score of 3-5, he would've expected Ayame to forfeit. But what he didn't get was how she won.

Ayame noticed his questioning look. "I knocked him out. I thought that was the only way to stop him, because after he injured my right leg, he aimed for my left next."

"How did you knock him out?" Ryoma was pretty sure that it'd be hard to kick somebody with one injured leg at a fast speed.

"I pelted his head with Gemini fluke balls," Ayame answered. "I didn't use the shuriken one, so he didn't bleed. I thought it'd be worse if I made him bleed, so I hit him on the head until I knocked him out."

"And you did it all with one leg injured? Not bad."

"Why do you think I asked you to help me practice that one-footed Ninja Dash?"

 _So that's how she was able to continue playing..._ Ryoma realized.

"So you used it even though you were hurting? Isn't that hard to do?" Ryoma asked.

"It would be," Ayame admitted. "But all those times fighting in random gang wars in America helped me build my tolerance to pain."

Ryoma sighed as he recalled the times Ayame got herself involved in gang wars. She always came back with at least one injury, and sometimes it came down to the point where he had to save her. He had wanted her to stop, since it was troublesome for him every time she got injured, but stayed silent since she enjoyed fighting gangsters.

"You've got yourself a new rival, haven't you?" Ryoma asked.

"Eh?" Ayame was, surprisingly, clueless as to what Ryoma was getting at.

"Don't give me that. Your new rival is Kirihara-san, right? I know you went down to the arcade to compete with him, and now you played a tennis match."

"Ah... I suppose."

"Anyway, why were you about to lose to him? Shouldn't you be able to beat him easily?"

"I made a dare that I can't use Tenimuhou no Kiwami or else the match would be too easy. But it seems like I'm wrong. Knocking him out doesn't really count as a win for me."

"Hmm."

"Ah, crap! I still haven't thought up of a lie to tell Dad!"

"... How about saying that you fell out of a tree?"

"I don't think that's a good one. The first time I did, I broke an arm, and here in reality, I didn't break anything. At least I don't think I did. He doesn't know about the second time I fell out of a tree."

"You fell out of a tree again?"

"Oh, right, you weren't there. When I was at Rikkaidai the other day, before you showed up, I was trying to sneak in by climbing up trees and jumping through them. When I saw the Inui Juice, I got so scared that I fell out of it. I didn't break anything that time."

"I see... Why don't you just tell him that you fell down a stairway?"

"Maybe that might work... Arigatou, Ryoma."

"It was nothing."

"Well... wish me luck that it works."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the court, Kirihara slowly regained consciousness. He felt a pounding pain in his head, and he couldn't remember the reason why he was passed out in the court. He got up and went to pick up his tennis bag, only to see a written note on there. He then began to read it:

 _Kirihara-san,_

 _I won the match 3-5. It's because you went out of control in your Devil Mode and you have injured my right leg. It did not take me long to figure out that your stamina is weaker in your Devil Mode, and your shots are also easily predictable. I had to hit your head repeatedly until you passed out in order to stop you from trying to kill my other leg. But do not worry. I'm used to being injured, so if you feel bad about hurting my leg, don't worry about me. I can still run around on one foot. To avoid getting both of us into trouble, I'll make up a lie as to how I got hurt. I know you're not a bad person, but you need to learn how to control yourself more._

 _\- Kanna_

* * *

 **OK, Kirihara wouldn't hurt a girl, but he would if he goes insane. During his route in Gakupuri, he hits the protagonist hard enough for her to pass out, but that was only because he had gone mad in bloodshot mode and she tried to stop him from hitting Atobe (because Atobe refused to continue their "match" that had went on for 15 minutes).**

 **I'm wondering if I should still write some more. I already have an ending written up whenever I want to stop working on this, so I promise you I won't leave this without an ending. It's just that when I first started writing this, I didn't plan on how long this fanfic would be. I just threw in new ideas whenever they popped into my head. And also there's the fact that I haven't really heard from people much. There wouldn't be much purpose to working on a fanfic you put online if you don't hear how people feel, right? But anyway, I'll still write, but I dunno for how many chapters longer. It sort of depends on if people want me to write more than intended, which I would be willing to do if enough people ask.  
**


	35. Kai Para

**Chapter 35: Kai Para**

Ayame's hand moved across her desk as she brushed the pencil across her paper. She began writing a bunch of formulas and then she plugged in her variables to calculate the answer to the problem. When she had finished writing the answer, her cell phone rang. She reached for it and saw that the caller was Ryoma, so she picked up while reading her paper.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Ayame? It's me. I want to show you this game called Kai Para," Ryoma said on the other end.

"Kai Para?"

"Un. It's a net game. Get on your computer."

"OK, hold up a sec. I'm trying to finish my math homework and I'm on the last question."

"Alright."

"... OK, all done. Alright, I'll get on."

Ayame turned on her PC and searched for the game.

"There are many different versions..." she remarked. "Which one are you playing?"

"The Kaikon Paradise one," Ryoma answered. **(A/N: kaikon = cultivation)**

"OK, got it." Ayame launched the game.

"Alright, I'll come to you since you're new to this."

Soon enough, a white cat appeared on Ayame's screen near her character.

"You tried to make your character look like Karupin?" she asked, amused. "That's so cute. Anyway, so, what're the rules to this game? I can already guess, but I just wanna double check with you."

"You grow crops," Ryoma answered simply. "Oh, and you can snatch some away from your partner's."

"Sounds like fun!"

At the Echizen household, Ryoma suddenly felt an evil vibe coming through his phone. As a chill went down his spine, he realized that he shouldn't have said that last part, because Ayame is definitely going evil here.

"Oi, I think we should communicate through the game than through phone now," Ayame said. "I don't have to raise my bill and make it harder for my dad."

"OK," Ryoma said.

They both hung up and began playing together. After a few hours, Ayame decided to stop.

 _Ryoma, I'm gonna stop for now,_ she messaged. _I sort of want to see what the other versions are like._

 _Fine-nya,_ Ryoma messaged back.

Ayame then went to try out the other versions of Kai Para. After enjoying herself for an hour, she shut down her PC and went back to doing her homework.

 _This Kai Para is interesting..._ she thought. _I think I'll wake up early tomorrow and ask the senpai-tachi if they also play Kai Para._

* * *

Ayame put on her shoes and ran out the front door. She made her way to her school and went straight to the courts, where the boys' tennis team morning practice already began. She saw Kikumaru walking out of the clubroom, joining up with Ryoma, Momo, Inui, and Oishi.

"Ohayo, Oishi!" Kikumaru yawned.

"What's with that yawn?" Oishi asked.

"Ah, I stayed up late playing Kai Para," Kikumaru answered.

"You play Kai Para too?!" Ayame called excitedly as she ran to the courts.

"Ah, Ayame!" Ryoma said in surprise as she got onto the courts to join them.

"Ayame-chan, you came to our morning practice?" Momo asked. "You usually don't show up."

"I know, but... Kikumaru-senpai, you play Kai Para too?" Ayame asked.

"That means you played it too?" Kikumaru asked her.

"I introduced it to her yesterday," Ryoma said. "It seems like she got sucked into the game."

Oishi, on the other hand, was very confused at the group's conversation. "Kai Para...?"

"Eh? Oishi-senpai, you don't know what Kai Para is?" Momo asked.

"That's really bad," Ryoma remarked.

"Kai Para is a net game," Momo said.

"Net game...?" Oishi repeated.

Ayame stared at Oishi as she realized that he was foreign to online games. Inui then went on a detailed explanation of what a net game is, which Ayame didn't listen to, because she found Inui's explanations boring.

"You should try it out, Oishi!" Kikumaru said enthusiastically. "You'll get sucked in for sure!"

Ayame then tried to imagine Oishi playing an online game, but couldn't bring herself to get a clear image. After all, Oishi wasn't the type to play games. Or so she thought.

 _I can't really judge with Oishi-senpai..._ her thoughts told her. _There WAS that time when he went insane over yakiniku..._

Ayame then stepped off of the court to watch the morning practice and went off to class when it ended. She went through her classes, which went smoothly as usual, and when she got home, she joined up with Ryoma online in Kai Para.

 _Ne, I'm going to go see if I can snatch something from somebody-nya,_ Ryoma messaged.

 _Go ahead,_ Ayame messaged back. _Give some of the share to me too._

 _No way-nya._

 _You're so mean._

 _If you want some crops, go steal it yourself-nya._

 _Fine._

Ayame then played alone until Ryoma came back, and then they played together like normal.

 _You haven't mugged anyone yet?_ Ayame messaged.

 _No-nya,_ Ryoma messaged. _But I came across someone who's just starting out, and he's growing an Emperor Pumpkin-nya. When it grows, I'll steal it-nya._

 _Wow. You're gonna steal something like that? You're such a bastard. But then again, I wouldn't be any different. I'd steal it too._

* * *

Ayame left early again to catch the tennis team's morning practice. She arrived at the time Kikumaru finished changing, and joined up with Ryoma, Momo, and Inui, who were standing together. The four watched as the Golden Pair talked about playing Kai Para that last night.

"It seems like Oishi-senpai got sucked in too," Ryoma remarked.

"The probability that they will log on tonight to meet each other again is 120%," Inui declared.

Momo then noticed that Ayame had been staring at the Golden Pair nearly the entire time after she walked into the court, and she had been looking confused.

"Sword...?" she said quizzically.

Momo looked over to Oishi and Kikumaru and listened to their conversation. As he did, he slowly began to grow confused as well.

"Tractor?" he said quizzically.

The two exchanged glances. They knew that the Golden Pair was having a rather confusing conversation, and they didn't know what to say.

When school started, Ayame dismissed her thoughts about the Golden Pair's conversation, and went through class. After the club activities were over, she walked with Ryoma. She decided to play Kai Para with him at his house. As soon as the two stepped through the front door, they went straight to Ryoma's room. Ryoma sat down at his desk as Ayame pulled another chair and sat next to him. They launched the game and started playing.

"Looks like that Emperor Pumpkin's fully grown," Ryoma remarked.

"Go for it!" Ayame said excitedly.

In the game, Ryoma managed to snatch the pumpkin, but then the partner he had been playing with suddenly went online.

 _Oi, Eiji!_ the partner messaged. _What are you going to do with that pumpkin?_

"Eiji...?" Ayame repeated. "That has to be Oishi-senpai then."

"Ah, you're right," Ryoma said as he began messaging back.

"Wow, Ryoma, you're so evil. Oishi-senpai started not too long ago and you already stole something valuable from him."

"But that's the fun part of the game."

"Yeah, true. Are you gonna keep quiet about this?"

"Yeah. Let's see how long it'll take for Oishi-senpai to notice it was me."

The two freshmen smirked evilly as they kept playing.

* * *

Ayame ran down the road and looked around. She eventually came across a school, and it was Hyotei Gakuen.

 _Inui-senpai said that they were gonna go to Hyotei and have practice matches with them..._ her thoughts said. _Looks like I found my way there..._

She entered the grounds and searched around for the tennis courts, not taking the time out to see how grand the property was. She eventually found it, and joined up with the trio of Seigaku regulars she's been with for the past few practices on one of the courts. Inui was discussing the practice matches with Gakuto, Hiyoshi, and Oshitari while Kikumaru and Oishi were apparently arguing with each other on the other court.

"Ah, you're here, Kanna," Inui said. "Came here to watch?"

"Un," Ayame answered.

"Echizen, even your friend follows you all the way here?" Oshitari asked.

"Well, yeah," Ryoma answered.

Ayame then paid attention to the argument that Oishi and Kikumaru were having. At the same moment, Momo also listened in.

"Is it just me or are they having a very confusing conversation?" Momo asked, almost to himself.

Soon after, Inui declared the first practice match to be the Golden Pair against Gakuto and Hiyoshi.

"Are we going to start the match already?" Hiyoshi asked.

"Let's get started!" Gakuto said. "I've been wanting to play against Kikumaru! Prepare yourselves, Seigaku's Golden Pair!"

"Don't wanna!" Kikumaru said angrily. "I don't wanna pair up with Oishi!"

"We are not Seigaku's Golden Pair anymore!" Oishi declared.

"What? Does that mean we're not practicing?" Hiyoshi asked, confused at why the Golden Pair refused to pair with each other.

It was then there was a lot of tension in the air caused by the former Golden Pair. Ayame felt that it was rivaling the tension that she and Ryoma gave off when they were competing in video games or when they were about to start a match.

"What's with that intensity?" Gakuto asked.

It ended up with the Kikumaru-Mukahi pair against the Oishi-Hiyoshi pair. However, it became more of a fight between the ex-Golden Pair as Kikumaru and Oishi kept stealing the balls. Gakuto and Hiyoshi stepped away from the fight and stood next to Oshitari, who was standing on the side of the court. Ayame watched the Golden Pair along with Ryoma, Momo, and Inui while sweat dropping.

"It's rare to see them fight like this," Inui remarked as he began writing in his notebook.

"This is pretty interesting..." Ryoma remarked.

"You mean they've fought before?" Ayame asked Ryoma.

"Un, before the Kanto Tournament," Ryoma answered.

"Kikumaru Shining Star!" Kikumaru shouted.

"Oishi Tractor!" Oishi shouted.

It was then the Hyotei members recognized it as Kai Para.

"What? Even the Golden Pair are married to each other in "Kai Para"?" Oshitari asked.

"You know about it, Yuushi?" Gakuto asked.

"A little bit," Oshitari answered. "But what a match. Fighting over a game. It's like they're at middle-school level..."

"But we are middle schoolers..." Hiyoshi piped up.

"That's right..." Oshitari muttered.

Ayame had heard Kikumaru and Oishi's words, Hyotei's discussion with Kai Para, and she recalled what the two were arguing over. A realization slowly crept upon her. It was then she also made eye contact with Ryoma, and she knew that he was telling her that he was realizing the same thing she was.

"Doesn't it seem like that they're not playing tennis at all?" Momo asked.

"I was thinking the same thing," Ayame said.

"Now that you point it out..." Inui started.

Ayame and Ryoma gave each other knowing looks. They watched until Kikumaru and Oishi were out of breath, and Ayame noted that they finally took notice that they were having a different type of conversation.

"Ano!" Momo spoke up. "What is the name of the game you were playing?"

"It was Kai Para, of course!" Oishi said.

"The full name of it?" Momo asked.

"Kaikon Paradise," Oishi answered at the same time Kikumaru said "Kaibutsu Paradise." **(A/N: kaibutsu = monster)**

Both repeated what their ex-partner said, and slowly realized that they were never playing with each other at all. Ayame and Ryoma exchanged amused looks, and they couldn't hold it anymore. They started giggling like little children.

"What's wrong, Kanna?" Oishi asked.

"Ochibi?" Kikumaru asked.

"It's... nothing-nya!" Ryoma said through laughs.

"You were that cat?!" Oishi nearly exclaimed in shock.

"Sorry..." Ryoma said, trying to hold back his laugh. "It was just... Oishi-senpai didn't realize..."

"Yeah..." Ayame snickered. "I was there to see it... I didn't stop him because it was funny..."

"You were both in the same room?" Oishi asked.

"Un," Ayame answered. "I was at his house last night."

"Ochibi, were you the one playing with me too?" Kikumaru asked.

"No, I didn't play with you at all," Ryoma finally managed to calm himself. "It was Ayame."

"Eeeh?! It was Ayame-chan?!" Kikumaru exclaimed.

"Yeah," Ayame laughed. "I couldn't let Ryoma have all the fun, so I decided to be evil too. I didn't know it was you until I heard you and Oishi-senpai arguing earlier."

"But Ayame, that was pretty good what you did last night," Ryoma remarked. "You got the latest tractor model at the same time you got that Phantom Sword too. You're learning really fast."

The Golden Pair right away noticed that Ryoma and Ayame's conversation was confusing.

"Wait a second!" Oishi said. "Kanna, weren't you playing Kaibutsu Paradise with Eiji last night?"

"Oh, yeah..." Ayame held back her laugh.

"Ayame's crazy, she was playing both Kaibutsu Paradise and Kaikon Paradise launched at the same time on one computer," Ryoma cleared up the confusion.

"EEEH?!" the other Seigaku regulars cried in shock, not expecting that sort of answer.

"Well hey, at least I was also playing a manly game unlike you!" Ayame said scornfully to Ryoma.

"What do you mean by that?" Ryoma demanded with a slight hint of anger in his voice.

"You know what I mean," Ayame continued.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but why were you playing two versions of Kai Para at once, Ayame-chan?" Momo asked, also wanting to break up their fight.

"I wanted to play Kaikon Paradise with Ryoma," Ayame answered. "But I like Kaibutsu Paradise too, so I had trouble deciding which one to play. So in the end, I played both at once!"

Ryoma sweat dropped when Ayame had spoke with pride at her last sentence. _It's not something to be proud about..._

"It sounds silly, but Ryoma and I were actually competing last night," Ayame said. "We were trying to see which one of us could mess with more people online. We also backstabbed each other too!"

 _Do they always compete in whatever they do together?_ Momo wondered as he stared at the two freshmen.

"I won't lose to you next time, bastard," Ayame said as she turned to Ryoma.

"Heh... You think you could beat me?" Ryoma asked, looking amused.

"Yeah. We'll settle it tonight."

"Bring it on."

All the other tennis players on the courts instinctively backed off as they felt the dangerous atmosphere surrounding the two Seigaku freshmen.

* * *

 **It already sounds crazy to play two games at once launched on one computer, but I do it too.  
**


	36. Osaka Trip

**Chapter 36: Osaka Trip**

Ryoma and Ayame stepped off the train onto the platform.

"This is where we meet up if we lose sight of each other, right?" Ayame asked.

"Yeah," Ryoma answered.

The two friends had took a bullet train to Osaka. Ryoma had told Ayame about eating the takoyaki there when he went to training with Shitenhouji, and she got interested. She wanted to go there and grab some for herself, and asked Ryoma to accompany her in case she gets lost in the city.

"So... which way?" Ayame asked.

"I can't really remember where..." Ryoma said after looking around.

 _Did his amnesia make him forget this place as well...?_ Ayame wondered.

"Let's just walk around until we find it," Ayame suggested.

"Fine," Ryoma said. "I had to walk around a bit before I ran into the senpai-tachi back then anyway..."

With that, the two left the train station and began roaming around the city. Ayame began sightseeing while keeping up with Ryoma, as she was excited to see what Osaka was like.

"... Can you stop doing that?" Ryoma asked.

"I can't look around?" Ayame asked.

"You're acting too much like a kid. It's embarrassing me."

"Geez... Lighten up a bit, will ya? I'm just looking around."

"Then do it in a way where you're not frolicking."

"You're so strict. Anyway, I'm just wondering... What are you gonna do if we run into that strange kid?"

Ryoma went still for a moment, and then he sighed. He forgot that Kintaro lives in Osaka, and since they're both here, there's a good chance they'll run into him. The last thing he wanted was to be called "Koshimae" and to be bothered about playing a match. He was only here to make sure that Ayame doesn't get lost, as she was the one who asked him to come with her.

Ayame noticed his reaction. "Well, if you don't wanna see him, I can help you skedaddle."

The two soon came upon a store selling parfait.

"Ah... this was where I saw him..." Ryoma said suddenly as he recognized the parfait at the store window.

"The strange kid?" Ayame asked.

"Yeah. He kept asking me to play a match, but I decided to rally with him when he said that if he loses, he'll treat me to takoyaki."

"Wait... you rallied with him outside of a tennis court?"

"Yeah."

"Sounds interesting... I feel like doing something like that. You in?"

"Not really."

"You're boring... Ne, how about if you play with me, the loser has to buy Ponta when we go back home."

Ryoma smirked. "Fine."

Ayame grinned as she knew that Ponta was usually the requirement to get Ryoma to do almost anything she wants him to do. "OK, I'll go on that side of the street. You stay here. You wanna serve?"

"I don't care."

"I'll serve then."

Ayame took off her clothes to wear her sports clothes underneath, and she put them away in her bag. After tying her hair back, she then crossed the street and took out a tennis ball from her bag.

"You ready?" she called.

"Hurry up and play!" Ryoma called back.

Ayame then served the ball over the traffic on the street to Ryoma, and their rally began. The two began going down the streets while keeping their rally going and avoiding running into pedestrians. They conversed while keeping the rally going.

"Ne, Ryoma!" Ayame called.

"What?" Ryoma called back.

"Since we're here in Osaka, what were you doing when you were here?"

"Training!"

"With the Osaka representatives, right?"

"Yeah!"

"How did it go for you?"

"It was okay!"

"I see!"

"What about you? What were you doing while I was gone?"

"Nothing much! I just stayed in the room doing nothing because my arm was still broken!"

The two went silent, leaving only the sounds coming from the impact of their rackets hitting the ball. Some citizens had stopped and stared at the freshmen, wondering why the hell they were doing a tennis rally across the street and not inside of a tennis court.

"You know, this might be one of the only times we played where there will be no tie!" Ayame called.

"What makes you say that?" Ryoma called back.

"Remember when we would both collapse and tie during our matches? It was all based on the score we get! This time it's based on who hits the ball last!"

"Hmm? But the winner will be me!"

"Say that after you've won! Anyway, what became of that rally you played with the strange kid?"

"We tied!"

Ayame nearly lost her focus for a split second. "How?!"

"Eiji-senpai caught the ball when I was smashing it!"

"Ah... Was that when you joined up with the senpai-tachi?"

"Yeah!"

After some ten minutes, the ball bounced at Ayame's feet and hit the wall of a building behind her.

"Looks like he won this time..." Ayame sighed in resignation.

"Mada mada dane!" Ryoma called over.

"Alright, next time we find a vending machine, I'll buy the Ponta," Ayame said as she crossed the street to get back to Ryoma. "Do you have any inkling as to where that takoyaki store is?"

"No... I don't."

"Oh..."

"Gomen."

"N-no! It's okay! I'm not disappointed because you forgot! We'll just walk around until we find it."

"... Don't try to make me feel better."

"I'm not! I'm just disappointed that we'll have to walk around anyway. But oh well, I wanna see more of this place!"

The two then continued strolling down the street while Ayame kept her senses on high alert. Ayame had been trying to think about what to talk about to Ryoma because she felt awkward with the silence that was occurring between the two. She had to put a lot of thought into which topic she wants to talk to Ryoma about. First, if she talks to him about something he considers weird, he would ask her why she would bring it up, and it somewhat annoyed her when he didn't answer her properly. Second, if she talks about something that would offend him, it would surely lead to an argument, which was something Ayame hated, because Ryoma has his own way of arguing which usually ended up with only her getting pissed. Third, she had to choose a topic where Ryoma couldn't tease her, because sometimes he enjoyed doing that, which often ended up with her snapping at him needlessly, and he wanted her to get riled up.

"Ryoma," Ayame started. "Have you finished your homework yet?"

"... Not yet," Ryoma answered after a moment of hesitation.

"Want me to stay at your house afterward and help?"

"Why do you want to help me?"

"Why are you asking me that? It's to repay you for accompanying me for today. Anyway, do you want my help or not?"

"Yeah. But don't help me with my math."

"Eh? Why?"

"Don't ask."

"But math is one of my better subjects. Why don't you want me to help?"

"Just don't."

Ayame knew he was being stubborn again. "Fine."

After that, they were silent. Ryoma had his own reasons as to why he didn't want Ayame to help him with math, but didn't want to tell her. While it was true that math was her best subject next to English, she absolutely loved the subject. Whenever she would help Ryoma with homework and they went to math, she would go into every detail about every aspect of the content they were learning. Whenever she had finished explaining (which normally took 5-15 minutes), he would end up getting a headache from her going insanely detail-oriented. Whenever there was even one single part he didn't understand, she would repeat it, and make his headache worse.

They continued strolling while looking around for the said takoyaki shop that Ryoma had forgotten about. When they turned around the corner of a building, they nearly bumped into someone.

"Ah, gomen!" Ayame apologized.

The person opened his mouth to say something, but then he hesitated for a split second before speaking. "Echizen and Kanna?"

"Ah, Kenya-san..." Ryoma recognized him.

"Oh... aren't you that Naniwa's Speed Freak or something like that?" Ayame asked.

"It's Naniwa's Speed Star!" Kenya said angrily.

"Oh, right," Ayame said. "Sorry. By the way, you can run really fast, right?"

"Oh? Are you challenging me?" Kenya asked.

"Ayame!" Ryoma spoke up, sensing what was going to happen.

"Yeah!" Ayame said confidently, seemingly ignoring Ryoma. "Let's see who can run the fastest on water!"

"Ayame, don't..." Ryoma started.

"Alright, sure," Kenya said. "I'll show you the speed of Naniwa's Speed Star!"

Ryoma sighed. He tried to stop Ayame from getting into a speed match with Kenya, because the next thing he'll know, he'll lose sight of her, and it would cause trouble for him. It seems like now it was too late. He watched as Ayame and Kenya went to the canal and they started sprinting on it. Frustrated, he made his way back to the station, the place they said they'd meet up if they were to get separated.

Meanwhile on the canal, Ayame and Kenya were running at a high speed on the water surface, neither one running faster. They kept running straight on the water surface until Ayame suddenly turned around and got onto dry land. Kenya noticed and also got onto land.

"What's wrong?" Kenya asked.

"Shit..." Ayame muttered. "I just realized that I wasn't supposed to be separated from Ryoma. Sorry, but I'll settle this with you later. It's your win for now. I gotta go find Ryoma..."

Ayame then remembered that she was to go back to that station if she and Ryoma were separated. She began to run around to search for the place, and had to ask for directions, as she ended up lost. After some fourteen minutes of running around, she suddenly ran into a familiar face.

"Ah! Are you the girl that Koshimae is looking for?" the boy asked.

 _Oh, great..._ Ayame thought. _It's the strange kid..._

"A-ah... un..." Ayame answered.

"Yay! Come with me! Koshimae said that he'd play a match with me if I found you!" Kintaro said excitedly.

Ayame reluctantly followed Kintaro, and wondered if Ryoma really did say he would play a match if Kintaro were to find her. It then occurred to her that Ryoma must've said that so that he could have someone look for her, and that he wasn't really going to play a match with Kintaro. Kintaro eventually led her to the station, where Ryoma was standing around.

"Koshimae, I found her!" Kintaro said. "Let's play our match!"

"No," Ryoma said.

 _Yeah, seems like my guess was correct..._ Ayame thought.

"Eeh?! You said you were gonna play a match with me if I found the girl and brought her back!" Kintaro said.

"You heard me wrong," Ryoma sighed. "I said I might play a match, I didn't say I was gonna."

"Let's have a match!" Kintaro said. "It's OK if it's for a little while!"

Ayame looked over at Ryoma, and she noticed that he was starting to look a bit exhausted. She took out her flute case and begin assembling her flute while Kintaro continually demanded Ryoma to play a match with him.

"Oi, strange kid," Ayame said.

"What is it?" Kintaro asked.

"Do you know what this is? This is a death stick!" Ayame said, raising her flute. "Do you know what this end of this stick has? Poison. I mixed it with burnt sand and poison, so now I can kill people if I hit them with this end of the stick! And I can break it apart to throw the pieces to kill people with it!"

"Eeeh?!" Kintaro cried in shock.

"Do you want me to kill you with this?!" Ayame asked, trying to look and sound as threatening as possible.

"No, no!" Kintaro said, sounding terrified. "This is bad! I don't wanna die!"

"OK..." Ayame lowered her flute and began disassembling it. "I won't kill you if you show us the best takoyaki store here."

"You guys wanted to eat takoyaki?!" Kintaro asked excitedly. "Let's go together then!"

Ryoma and Ayame followed Kintaro as he began leading them.

"Nice one," Ryoma said in an undertone to Ayame.

"I remember that the bandage guy would control that strange kid by saying that his hand was poisonous," Ayame said. "And the strange kid believes him. So I figured that it'd be easy to fool him. He did ramble something about reading in a manga that if you mix burnt sand and poison together with an object, that object becomes poisonous. So I had to make up the lie that the end of my flute was poisonous so I could control him too."

"You weren't gonna kick him?"

"Nope. Too troublesome. Since he's an idiot, it's better to make up a lie about murdering them than to threaten to hurt them."

"Heh... You're surprisingly attentive."

"What?! Are you saying that my five senses are crappy?!"

"... I never even said anything like that..."

The three freshmen eventually arrived at a takoyaki store, and they ate takoyaki. While they were doing so, Ryoma and Ayame knew that the next problem would be getting away from Kintaro. They were sure that he would want to play a match with Ryoma after, so it wouldn't be easy to slip away from him. Ayame contemplated about ways to get Kintaro off of them so that they could make a break for the train back to Tokyo.

The trio finished eating their takoyaki.

"Koshimae, let's play a match!" Kintaro said.

"No," Ryoma said almost instantly.

"Ne, strange kid, I lost something while I was racing with your speed star senpai," Ayame said. "Do you think you could find it for me? If you do, Ryoma will play a match with you! Isn't that right, Ryoma?"

She elbowed Ryoma when he gave no response. He then realized what she was trying to do.

"A-ah... Yeah," Ryoma said.

"For real?!" Kintaro asked excitedly.

"For real," Ayame answered. "Right, Ryoma?"

"Yeah," Ryoma said.

"OK, what did you lose?" Kintaro asked. "I'll find it for you!"

"I lost my cell phone," Ayame replied. "It's a pink one."

"I got it!" Kintaro said. "I'll go look for it!"

Kintaro then ran off, and Ayame and Ryoma exchanged looks. They ran to the station and waited. The train soon arrived, and both freshmen boarded to get back home.

* * *

 **For those of you who are curious, this is what Ryoma and Kintaro were talking about before Kintaro went to go find Ayame:**

Kintaro: "Ahhhh! It's you, Koshimae!"

Ryoma: "Ah... he appeared."

Kintaro: "Koshimae! Play a match with me!"

Ryoma: "No."

Kintaro: "Play a match with me!"

Ryoma: "Don't wanna."

Kintaro: "It's OK if it's for a while!"

Ryoma: "... I'll play a match with you if you can do one thing for me."

Kintaro: "Really?! What is it?!"

Ryoma: "There's a girl that I'm looking for. I told her to come here, but she's not here yet. If you can find her and bring her back, I might play a match."

Kintaro: "OK! What does the girl look like?"

Ryoma: "She's wearing a blue shirt and a pink miniskirt. She has long, black hair, and she has blue eyes."

Kintaro: "Alright! I'll go look for her!"


	37. Seishundai Tennis Club

**OK, I went on a longer mental vacation than I thought. I guess winter holidays do make you very lazy to the point where you really have to arse yourself to start writing again. Sorry for the wait. Here's the next chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter 37: Seishundai Tennis Club**

Ayame ran up to the building and met the freshmen there.

"Ah, Kanna-san! Ohayo!" Kachirou greeted.

"Ohayo, Horio, Kato, Mizuno..." Ayame greeted back.

"Eh? Ryoma-kun isn't with you?" Katsuo asked.

"No, I just made my way here after I got your message earlier," Ayame replied.

 _I don't wanna go through the trouble of dragging his lazy ass out of his bed..._ Ayame thought. _I waste five minutes of my life just to get him to move..._

"Is Echizen gonna be late again?" Horio asked.

"I'm sure of it," Ayame said with a resigned sigh.

Ayame heard footsteps and looked over to see Sakuno and Tomoka coming up.

"Oh, you invited Ryuzaki and Osakada as well?" Ayame asked, hiding her disdain upon seeing the latter mentioned, as she recalled the treatment Tomoka gave her for her first few days of school.

"Yeah, it'd be more fun!" Kachirou replied.

"Eh? Where's Ryoma-sama?" Tomoka asked.

"He's still not here," Horio answered.

"Kanna-san, do you know where Ryoma-sama would be?" Tomoka asked.

"I'd imagine that he's still snoozing his ass off right now," Ayame answered. "Unless by some strange miracle he's actually awake right now... and that strange miracle is today."

"Eh?! You know that he's awake?!" the Freshman Trio shouted in unison.

"No, I was just messing with you guys," Ayame replied, causing all the freshmen to pratfall. "But considering the hour right now, let's just say that the lazy bastard is still sleeping."

"Ryoma-sama is not a lazy bastard!" Tomoka defended. "Ryoma-sama is just tired from practicing tennis!"

Ayame sighed. "You want to see him that badly? Fine, I'll call him."

* * *

Ryoma faintly heard the sounds of his cell phone ringing. He drowsily reached for his cell phone and picked up. "Hello...?"

"Why the hell are you still sleeping, bastard?!" Ayame's voice boomed, startling him. "Get up and get your ass over here already!"

"Over where...?" Ryoma yawned.

"Don't ask me that!" Ayame continued. "You were supposed to come down to the Seishundai Tennis Club today! Now get over here already or you'll owe me a week's worth of Ponta!"

* * *

Ayame groaned in frustration as she hung up, oblivious to the stares of confusion at her. She began muttering under her breath. "He better not say it again…"

"D-do you always yell at Ryoma-kun like that, K-Kanna-san?" Sakuno asked.

"Yes, whenever I find out that he hasn't woken up yet," Ayame replied. "Or when he pisses me off on purpose for his entertainment."

"His entertainment...?" Sakuno repeated.

"You think his opponents are the only people he pisses off?" Ayame asked. "Then you're wrong. In fact, that bastard LOVES to make me angry at him, and that's what makes him a bastard!"

"I think... I'm starting to get the reason why she talks like as if Ryoma-kun is the worst person she's ever known..." Katsuo said.

"Doesn't it seem like she actually likes him?" Horio asked.

"But Kanna-san said that she doesn't like Ryoma-kun..." Kachirou pointed out.

"But they both hang out every day," Horio pointed out.

"They do hang out every day, but do you notice that Kanna-san doesn't care if Ryoma-kun is alone with another girl?" Kachirou asked.

"Oi, I can hear you three's conversation!" Ayame called, interrupting them.

 _How could she hear from all the way over there?!_ the three boys thought in unison, considering that they had lowered their voices to speak privately.

"For the last time, Ryoma and I are not going out," Ayame said, her voice full of venom. "We're just friends and practice partners and former next-door neighbors who know each other for seven years. But anyways, about Ryoma... He might not be here until way later, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was taking his sweet time while doing so. So what do you guys wanna do while we wait?"

"How about play some tennis?" Katsuo suggested.

"Yeah, well... you guys aren't at my level yet..." Ayame said, trying not to sound blunt.

"Kanna-san, why don't you teach us some tennis?" Kachirou asked.

"I've never taught tennis before..." Ayame admitted. "I might not be that great..."

"You should teach so you can show me how to use the Twist Serve!" Horio said.

"Don't even think about it," Ayame said. "And besides, I never intended to learn the Twist Serve, it was kinda rubbed onto me... since it was like a signature Echizen technique, and I was learning tennis under them back then, and... yeah. I really don't have anything to teach, but I'll hit with you a little if you wanna practice."

Ayame tied her hair back. "Oh, Ryuzaki, you're in the girls' tennis club, right?"

"Eh? Yes," Sakuno answered.

"Do you want to hit a little?" Ayame asked.

Sakuno hesitated. She wasn't sure if Ayame was trying to play around with her, as she remembered the numerous times that Ayame teased her. On the other hand, though, Ayame's level of tennis is advanced. If she could learn from Ayame, then maybe she could play some actual tennis with Ryoma. And this time, Ayame looked pretty serious about her offer.

"Yes! A-arigatou!" Sakuno answered.

The six children got onto an empty court.

"Don't worry," Ayame assured them. "I won't go all-out, so just relax and play normally."

Ayame rallied with Kachirou, Katsuo, Horio, and then Sakuno. She took turns playing them until she eventually went to grab a water bottle from her bag. As she reached down into the bag, she suddenly paused.

"What's wrong, Kanna?" Horio called.

Ayame gave no response, so the freshmen ran over to her.

"Sorry, I was just going down memory lane for a while there," she said as they came close. "It's because of this… this was back when we were "innocent" children."

She pulled out an old photo of three smiling young children sitting in a line under an orange tree from her bag. There were two boys and a girl. One of the boys was older than the other two, and the other two looked as though they were the same age. The older boy was sitting on the left side, the younger boy was on the middle, and the girl was on the right.

The older boy was holding a blue racket in his right and an orange in his left, and he had black, green-tinted hair. He wore an orange shirt with a stripe pattern on it and green shorts. He had black, green-tinted hair and hazel eyes.

The younger boy resembled the older boy, the only exception being the eyes being a more gold color. He wore a familiar white Fila cap, in addition to a white shirt with blue overalls. He held a tennis ball with his right hand and a red tennis racket in his left hand.

The girl had her black hair tied back in a ponytail, and she had startlingly light blue eyes. She wore a pink dress, and she held a purple tennis racket in her right.

"Is that boy in the middle Echizen?" Horio asked.

"That's right," Ayame answered. "That's Ryoma. If I remember correctly, he was six in that picture, and I was five."

"Kyaa! Ryoma-sama is so cute!" Tomoka squealed.

 _So this is Ryoma-kun when he was six…_ Sakuno thought as a fuzzy feeling began to fall on her.

"Who's the older one in this picture?" Kachirou asked.

"Ryoga," Ayame replied. "Ryoma's aniki Ryoga. I remember that Rinko-san wanted to take this picture under this tree here because the three of us always ate oranges together. Including the ones that we stole. Almost every day, we would go and steal the neighbors' oranges. Whenever we got caught, Ryoma and Ryoga would create a diversion that would buy me enough time to steal the remainder of the oranges before we ran away… since I ran faster than them and was good at sneaking around. The neighbors complained to Rinko-san, but she didn't stop us from stealing more."

"Rinko-san?" Sakuno asked.

"Ryoma's mom," Ayame explained, then continued her story. "We stopped stealing oranges after Ryoga left us. The neighbors never knew that was the reason, but they were relieved that we stopped invading their property. I didn't know the reason myself until I thought about it years later. It was Ryoma and Ryoga who dragged me into stealing oranges with them, but I didn't want to, because I knew it was wrong. But they managed to trick me into doing it, and it wasn't until after our theft when I realized I did wrong. But it was fun, so I decided to do some more stealing with them. I get the feeling that Ryoga influenced Ryoma into doing it."

"What was Ryoga-san like?" Katsuo asked.

"Ryoga was really cool and he acted as the leader," Ayame answered. "He's also very arrogant, just like Ryoma and his dad. He likes to call Ryoma "Chibisuke," and he likes to call me "Ay-chan." He was good at making people mad, and he liked to tease me or Ryoma… mostly Ryoma, though."

"Ryoga-san is good at tennis too, right?" Kachirou asked.

"You're right," Ayame answered. "He's way better than me or Ryoma."

"What happened to Ryoma-kun when he had to leave?" Sakuno asked.

"Ahhh…" Ayame sighed, not wanting to talk about it. "Ryoma couldn't stop crying for a few days. I wanted to do something for him because I couldn't stand to watch him cry. Since he holed himself up in his bedroom, I tried to get him to play with me to make him feel better. But he wouldn't leave his room, and one day he just went cold on me."

Ayame shut her eyes, recalling that moment when Ryoma had turned around and glared at her, almost causing her to cry. It had hurt her to see him give her that cold stare for the very first time, and she had yelled one word that she would call him for possibly the rest of her life: bastard.

"Kanna-san?" a voice brought Ayame out of her thoughts.

"Oh, sorry," Ayame said as she snapped back to reality. "Well, enough of me, Ryoma, and Ryoga. Let's continue."

Ayame put away the photo, walked back to the court, and continued playing. While playing, she picked up the sound of footsteps and turned her head. "It's about time you showed up, _Koshimae_!"

Upon hearing that, Ryoma did a pratfall.

"Koshimae?" Tomoka repeated.

"That's what Shitenhouji's strange kid calls Ryoma," Ayame explained. "It's because he misreads the kanji in Ryoma's name."

"Doesn't she mean Shitenhouji's Tooyama Kintaro?" Katsuo asked.

"Kanna is bad with names..." Horio said.

"Now are you gonna get your ass down here or what?!" Ayame called to Ryoma, pretending to not hear what Katsuo and Horio said.

Ryoma climbed down the steps and got into the court to join the freshmen. "Chiisu. Ayame, don't call me by that name."

Ayame clapped her hands against her ears as Tomoka began shouting. "Ryoma-sama! Do your best!"

"Why is Kanna-san looking like as if Osakada-san's shouting is hurting her badly?" Kachirou wondered.

"Ayame's hearing is very sharp, so she can't handle loud noises next to her," Ryoma explained in an undertone to the Freshman Trio.

"Anyway, now that you're finally here, you wanna go?" Ayame asked after Tomoka quieted down.

"Fine by me," Ryoma replied.

All the other freshmen were immediately silenced by the heavy tension created in the air caused by Ayame and Ryoma. Ryoma and Ayame got onto one of the courts and they began rallying normally.

"Is that how they play their matches together...?" Katsuo wondered.

"It just looks like they're just rallying..." Sakuno remarked.

Finally, at some point Ayame caught the ball in her hand rather than returning it. "Is this good enough?"

"It's fine," Ryoma replied. "Which?"

"Rough."

The racket landed on rough. Without exchanging any words, Ryoma picked up his racket and showed Ayame what the result was. Ayame prepared to serve. Before she did, though, she and her best friend both activated Tenimuhou no Kiwami at the same time.

"What is that?" Tomoka asked.

"Tenimuhou no Kiwami," Kachirou answered.

"That was what Ryoma-kun used to win the Nationals, but I didn't know that Kanna-san could use it too," Katsuo said.

"So which one of them will win?" Horio asked.

"It's going to be Ryoma-sama!" Tomoka declared.

"But I heard from the senpai-tachi that Ryoma-kun and Kanna-san sometimes tie when they play seriously like this..." Katsuo said. "They said they've never seen it themselves, but that's from what Inui-senpai heard from Rikkaidai's Yanagi-san."

"Why were they rallying earlier, and then they're playing a match now?" Tomoka asked.

"No idea," Sakuno replied.

"It's starting!" Kachirou announced.

Ayame tossed the ball and swung her racket. The instant she began swinging, Ryoma immediately began moving. Ayame reacted just as quickly when Ryoma began swinging.

"Wh-what?" Horio said, confused.

"Wow... they're so fast..." Katsuo remarked, awed.

"I... can't see the ball at all..." Sakuno said in a hopeless tone.

"Is this how Ryoma-kun and Kanna-san play together...?" Kachirou wondered.

After watching the high speed rally for some time, eventually the ball suddenly appeared on Ayame's side of the court.

"0-15!" Ryoma declared.

Ayame served again, and their rally began again. After sometime had passed, the ball appeared on Ayame's side again, and at almost that instant, an audible "che" was heard from Ryoma.

"Out!" Ayame declared. "15-15!"

"They could tell if the ball was in or out?!" Horio cried.

"I couldn't tell at all..." Kachirou said.

"I could only see the ball when it's behind Ryoma-kun or Kanna-san..." Katsuo said.

The games went by in a blur as the two got into a tiebreak. The score eventually made it to the 200's before suddenly the aura around Ayame dissipated as the ball flew to her side.

 _No!_ she thought, realizing that she reached her limit. _I just need to score one more and I'll get another win off of him!_

Ayame felt her legs giving in as she began to fall. Her right leg failed her first, and with a last, desperate attempt, she pushed off the ground with the last of her strength in her left leg and swung her racket. Her racket made contact with the ball and it began flying over to Ryoma's side, shocking him. The ball hit the ground, landing a little bit outside of the court slightly past the line.

"Damn..." Ayame swore as she hit the ground.

"Out... 204-204..." Ryoma declared in a weak voice.

"Ryoma-sama!" Tomoka screamed.

Ayame looked up to see that the aura around Ryoma had disappeared, and he was wobbling. He then suddenly collapsed onto the ground.

"Ryoma-kun! Kanna-san!" Kachirou cried.

Ayame stared at Ryoma, waiting for any signs of movement from him. Before she could open her mouth, she heard the sound of running footsteps. She looked up to see Tomoka and Sakuno running to Ryoma.

"Ryoma-kun, are you alright?" Sakuno asked.

Ryoma didn't move. Ayame was sure he fainted until she heard him speak. "Don't... get on the court..."

"Eh?" Tomoka was confused.

"Don't... come onto the court if... a game is in progress..." Ryoma managed to say as he began pushing himself up.

Ayame's eyes widened. _He didn't fall asleep this time?!_

"But..." Sakuno started.

Ayame began pushing herself up when she noticed Ryoma was doing so. She felt her legs give in again as she fell back down. She looked over to see that Ryoma was still standing.

"Get off... the court..." Ryoma panted to Tomoka and Sakuno.

The two girls reluctantly obeyed. Ayame stared back up at Ryoma, and realized that since he was still standing, he will win the match. But before she could say anything, Ryoma suddenly collapsed again.

 _He tried to stand long enough to make this match his win, but he didn't have enough strength left for it..._ she thought.

"This match... is over..." Ayame panted. "We tied... again..."

Ayame began crawling over to Ryoma's side of the court. No one made a move to help her. She lifted up Ryoma's head.

"Not again!" she groaned.

"Echizen passed out?!" Horio called.

Ayame wanted to call back, but she lacked the energy to raise her voice. Instead she beckoned to the freshmen, who got up and walked over.

"He didn't... just pass out..." she panted. "He... fell asleep..."

"What should we do?!" Tomoka asked, somewhat panicked that Ryoma had passed out right there on the court.

"Ryoma-kun..." Sakuno muttered.

Ayame attempted to stand up again, but she fell back down.

"Don't push yourself, Kanna-san!" Kachirou said.

"Ahhh..." Ayame sighed. "Now he's gone and done it again..."

"You mean Ryoma-kun falls asleep like that when he ties with you?!" Katsuo asked Ayame in shock.

"Un," Ayame answered.

"How do you deal with him if he does that while you're out of energy?" Horio asked.

"I wait until I can stand again..." Ayame replied. "Then I carry him out."

"You carry Ryoma-sama?!" Tomoka asked, her expression full of horror and envy.

"What else can I do?" Ayame asked. "Most of our matches were when we were in America together with only the two of us looking after each other. If I leave that bastard lying there on the ground, his long lost relative is gonna kill me."

"Long lost relative...?" Kachirou and Katsuo repeated, confused.

"Are you both in Synchro or what?!" Ayame demanded. "Anyway, I was just kidding. You really thought I just take him back home just because I want my life spared and I didn't care? Get this bastard's corpse onto one of the benches."

"Kanna-san…" Kachirou started, sweat dropping.

"Ryoma-kun isn't dead…" Katsuo finished, sweat dropping.

The Freshman Trio took to moving Ryoma onto the bench while Ayame waited until she regained enough strength to stand.

"Damn... what are we supposed to do if we keep tying like this?" she groaned. "This is like our 30th tie already!"

"You and Echizen tied 30 times?!" Horio cried in shock.

"Yeah, well, not all of them ended up like just now..." Ayame replied. "About 11 ties, Ryoma didn't fall asleep. As of now we have 49 wins and 49 losses."

 _But it almost seems like as if the tennis God doesn't want anyone to see me or Ryoma win..._ Ayame thought. _Every time we played a serious match with an audience watching, we tie. But then again, we've been tying a lot lately... I guess it's because we both want the 50th win badly. Putting that aside, Ryoma was able to stand a little longer... That means I need some more serious work on my stamina!_

"Kanna-san, that means you and Ryoma-kun played 128 matches?" Sakuno asked.

"I suppose, if you don't count any of the times we played before we started keeping count," Ayame answered.

"Why were you and Ryoma-sama rallying before you started the match?" Tomoka asked.

"We needed to warm up first," Ayame replied. "We don't need to injure ourselves before our match."

"Ah, that's what Ryoma-kun did here when he was playing against Sasabe!" Kachirou exclaimed.

"Played against who?" Ayame asked.

"There was a guy named Sasabe who had a bad attitude that Echizen played against and defeated," Horio explained. "It happened right here on this same court. Echizen didn't tell you?"

"No, Ryoma doesn't tell me any stories of what he was doing here on this country before I moved here," Ayame said. "Unless I ask him, of course, but other than that, he doesn't say a word."

She then got up and began walking out of the court.

"Where are you going, Kanna-san?" Katsuo asked.

"To buy some Ponta," Ayame answered without looking back or slowing down.

She left the courts and eventually came back, holding two cans of Ponta. One was a cherry flavor, and the other was a grape flavor.

"You're not thinking about drinking both of those yourself, are you?" Horio asked Ayame.

"Of course not!" Ayame answered sternly. "The other one's for Ryoma... when he wakes up, that is. Who knows how long it'll be until then."

She put the grape Ponta on Ryoma's bag, and then she took out a packed egg sandwich from her bag. "I guess it's about time for lunch now."

"I brought lunch for everyone too!" Tomoka showed her backpack. "But Ryoma-sama fainted so he can't eat my lunch yet..."

Disappointment quickly came onto Tomoka's face.

"What do you normally eat for lunch, Kanna?" Horio asked.

"An egg sandwich or some rice balls I make... or some toast," Ayame answered. "My dad's always busy so I have to make my own lunch."

"Why are there two egg sandwiches?" Kachirou asked as Ayame grabbed a second one from her bag.

"That's just in case Ryoma wants one," Ayame replied. "He likes egg sandwiches, so I always make two whenever I'm gonna hang out with him around lunchtime."

 _I didn't know he liked egg sandwiches until that time. That time, it was the first time I brought an egg sandwich at school for lunch break, and Ryoma really wanted it..._ Ayame thought, grinning at the memory. _He kept giving me that pleading look, so I surrendered it to him. From then on, I took the time out to learn how to make one, so now I make two, one for myself, and one for him in case he wants one._

The freshmen went ahead and had lunch. After they finished, Ayame rallied with Sakuno and the Freshman Trio until Ryoma woke up.

"You're late," Ayame said in an accusing tone to Ryoma.

"Late for what?" a clueless Ryoma asked.

"Lunch, you idiot!" Ayame shouted. "Here, I made another egg sandwich for you and I bought you a Ponta while you were out. Now you owe me a Ponta!"

She threw the egg sandwich at Ryoma, who caught it out of reflex, and he found the Ponta that she bought for him. Sakuno and Tomoka also gave him the lunch that they made for him. Ayame waited until he was done before she spoke to him.

"You wanna go at it?" she asked.

"No way..." Katsuo said.

"Don't tell me..." Horio started.

"They're going to play another match?" Kachirou finished.

Upon hearing the boys, Sakuno worried that Ryoma would collapse again. Ryoma saw Ayame glance at her tennis bag.

"Fine," he said.

The heavy tension from before returned, and the other five freshmen watched nervously as Ayame and Ryoma began digging through their tennis bag. They each took out a Gameboy Advance, sat next to each other on one of the benches, and began pounding on the buttons. This caused nearly all the other freshmen to pratfall.

"When Kanna said they're gonna go at it, she meant video games?!" Horio exclaimed in shock.

"How did Ryoma-kun know that that's what she meant?" Kachirou asked. "I thought she was talking about tennis."

"Go, go, Ryoma-sama!" Tomoka began cheering.

Ryoma and Ayame continued to ignore their surroundings and concentrated on their game, determined to not to lose to the other, while the Freshmen Trio and Sakuno watched them nervously, startled at the intensity they were both giving off.

* * *

 **Seishundai Tennis Club is the name of the tennis club that was shown in episode 10.  
**


	38. Power Training

**Chapter 38: Power Training**

"Kanna, you're doing your homework even during lunch break?" Horio asked.

"Why not?" Ayame replied, not looking up from the paper. "It's not like I have anything to do while I eat. And I'd like to get my homework done early… Since I go home later because I stay to watch your club activities."

She continued working on her homework, not paying attention to the Freshman Trio or Ryoma, while she chewed on a rice ball.

"Ryoma-kun, what's wrong?" Kachirou asked.

He had noticed that Ryoma had been looking like as though he was spacing out. The Freshman Trio looked at the direction he was staring at, and it was at Ayame's tennis bag. Ayame paid no attention, however, but eventually she sighed.

"Yes, I have it," she said as she reached for her bag with her left hand. "Here."

She pulled out an egg sandwich packed in a sandwich container and handed it to Ryoma, still not looking up from her paper.

"You made two egg sandwiches again, Kanna-san?" Katsuo asked.

"Yeah," Ayame replied. "If I bring only one for myself, this bastard's gonna want it."

She finished the front side of her paper when she heard a strange noise in front of her.

"Horio-kun!" she heard Kachirou shout.

Ayame finally looked away from her paper to see Horio grasping his throat, making gagging noises. The commotion was attracting attention around the cafeteria. Ayame stood up and jumped over the table to get to the other side fast, and she lifted her left foot.

"Doryaaaaa!" she yelled as she swung her foot with all the force she could muster.

Her foot made contact with Horio's chest, which caused him to spit up a piece of food from his throat. She didn't bother to look to see what had been choking him and jumped over the table to get back to her spot.

"You're welcome," she said as she sat back down.

"K-Kanna-san…" Katsuo said nervously.

"I-is that how hard you can kick…?" Kachirou asked.

"Yes. Why?" Ayame asked.

"That looked like it hurt," Katsuo remarked as he looked down at Horio, who was lying on the ground, clutching the spot where Ayame kicked him.

"Well, it's that or keep choking until you grab the attention of the entire school," Ayame said. "Or die if nobody decides to help you."

Kachirou and Katsuo had known that Ayame was violent, but they never imagined how hard she could kick. Now that they had a slight idea, they glanced at Ryoma, wondering if he had to put up with Ayame kicking him; though they didn't know that Ryoma is one of the few people Ayame wouldn't kick.

Ayame heard the low whispers of people throughout the cafeteria. She heard something along the lines of "Did Kanna just do what I thought I saw?" and "Why did she do it?" Ayame ignored the comments and knew why the whole cafeteria were saying things like that. She was notorious through the whole school to the students for her violent acts and people saw her as cold and uncaring. It didn't help that her first victims were girls (she attacked Ryoma's fangirls out of self-defense when they tried to hurt her). The freshmen knew that she loathed Horio and got easily annoyed with him, so saving him was the last thing they expected her to do.

 _They should know better…_ Ayame thought, pretending that she didn't hear the whispers. _I only did it for him to shut up on the weird noises he's making._

Ayame stared down at her foot. She had monstrous power in her legs, but it wouldn't affect her tennis performance as much as if it were in her arms. She had improved her arm strength over time, but felt that it still need serious working on if she wanted to face stronger opponents. With that, she made a decision.

"Ryoma, do you have some time after club activities?" Ayame asked.

"Maybe," Ryoma answered. "If I'm going to get burgers with Momo-senpai or not."

"I see. Well, if you do, have fun."

"You're not going this time?"

"No."

"Why aren't you going this time, Kanna-san?" Katsuo asked.

Ayame leaned close to the Freshman Trio and lowered her voice to a whisper. "If I'll go, I'll get treated to watching those two lunkheads have their eating competition for man's pride on who can eat more again."

"Why did you ask?" Ryoma asked, not noticing Ayame whispering to the Freshman Trio.

"I just have a favor to ask," Ayame answered. "But it can be done at any time, so if you can't, it's okay."

Ryoma stood up and began walking away.

"Where are you going, Ryoma-kun?" Katsuo called.

"He's probably going to the rooftop to take a nap," Ayame said when Ryoma gave no answer. "Well, I'm going back to my classroom. See you."

Ayame quickly packed away her belongings and walked away, tennis bag on her shoulder.

* * *

Ayame watched as the tennis club members were dismissed, and she turned around to leave the courts.

"Ne, Ayame," Ryoma called out to her.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I'll help you out. What did you want to ask me?"

"Oh, okay. Well, let's just go to the temple first."

Ayame and Ryoma left the campus together.

"This has to do with tennis, right?" Ryoma asked.

"Un," Ayame answered.

"Then, what is it?"

"I want you to hit some Cyclone Smashes."

The two were silent as they walked up the steps to the temple and walked around the bell tower to the tennis court. They got into position as Ayame pulled out a tennis ball from her shorts pocket. She lobbed the ball as Ryoma leaped up into the air and smashed the ball down. Ayame performed a rising shot to try to return the ball, only to have her racket blown away.

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma taunted. "You're lacking in power."

"Hey, I'm a girl!" Ayame fumed. "Don't compare my power to you boys! Anyways, again!"

She lobbed another ball and Ryoma smashed it. This time Ayame tried to return it directly with both hands, but that was futile as her racket slid along the ground and stopped when it hit the wall surrounding the temple.

"Mada mada, huh…" Ayame sighed as she stared at her shaking hand.

"That was it? You just wanted to try to return my Cyclone Smash?" Ryoma asked.

"Not just. I also wanted to see where my power was at. I'm able to return "real tennis balls" but I guess I'm not able to go to Cyclone Smashes yet."

"Your power is mada mada dane. You should go to Ryuzaki-sensei and ask to borrow the wrist weights that Inui-senpai uses all the time."

"Would that be okay? Because I'm not in the tennis club and I'm a girl…"

"If you borrow them after club activities, I'm sure it would be fine."

"O-okay. Guess I'll give it a shot tomorrow."

* * *

Ayame watched the balls in the courts fly and then she walked through the gate to enter.

"Excuse me, Ryuzaki-sensei!" she called.

"What's wrong, Ayame?" Ryuzaki asked.

"After this is over, is it okay if I borrow some wrist weights for a while?"

"Huh? You want the wrist weights?"

"Please? I'll return them before every morning practice in case they need it!" Ayame got on her knees, which caused Ryuzaki to sweat drop.

Ryuzaki went into a deep thought for a moment. "Alright. Here's the deal. I'll let you borrow the wrist weights after club activities every day, but you have to return them before morning practice. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes!"

Ayame knew that she would have to change her schedule around, since morning practice starts way before her classes. Either way, she got the weights. She went to the tennis court in the temple to practice every day after she finished her homework. She would rally the ball against the wall and take breaks in between.

* * *

One evening, Ryoma and Nanjiroh were headed to the temple to hit like they always did. As they approached the court, they noticed a body sprawled on the ground near the court.

"Is that Ayame-chan?" Nanjiroh asked.

"It is," Ryoma said.

The two approached the girl.

"She's passed out from exhaustion," Nanjiroh said after he examined her.

Ryoma looked at her closer and his eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Eh?!"

"What's wrong?" Nanjiroh asked.

"She's wearing five weights on her wrist," Ryoma pointed.

"She probably overexerted herself until she fainted."

Nanjiroh looked over Ayame for a bit before he scooped her up. "I'll be right back, Ryoma."

* * *

Ayame opened her eyes and her vision slowly went to focus. She found herself lying on a couch, covered with a blanket. She looked around and her mind registered that she was in the Echizen household.

 _…_ _What happened…?_ she wondered. _Why am I at Ryoma's…?_

"Ah, you finally came to," a woman's voice said.

Ayame looked up. "Rinko-san… What happened? Why am I here?"

"Nanjiroh and Ryoma found you unconscious out in the temple," Rinko explained. "So they brought you back here."

Ayame went into a deep thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah. I remember now. I was practicing until I suddenly fell down and everything went black. But speaking of them, where's Ryoma and the old pervert?"

"They're still hitting out there."

Ayame got up and looked at the clock. "Ahhh, it's getting late! I gotta go home! Where's my bag?!"

"It's right here," Rinko pointed at Ayame's tennis bag leaning against the couch.

"Arigatou gozaimasu!" Ayame said as she hastily picked up her bag, only for her to drop it as she was unable to take the combined weight of the bag and the five weights on her wrist. "Dammit…"

She took off the weights, packed them inside her bag, and picked it back up and ran out the front door. As she was making her way to her doorstep, she realized that she was feeling a lot less strain on her arm when she carries the bag without the weights on.

 _That's a good sign…_ she thought as she unlocked the door and went inside.

* * *

"Ready?!" Ayame called to Ryoma from the other side of the court.

"Whatever, just hit it already," Ryoma said.

Ayame lobbed the ball, and Ryoma performed his Cyclone Smash. She rushed up to the ball and tried to return it with both hands. She strained her arms against the ball's power, and managed to return it, only for it to hit the net.

"Damn," she swore.

"At least you were able to hit it," Ryoma said. "If you weren't able to hit it by now, then you'd be improving too slowly."

"True..." Ayame had to hold back her anger at his last sentence. "But it's still not good enough."

"... Just don't push yourself like you did last time."

"Oh yeah. You and the old pervert found me dead on the ground here. I ran out of water and I didn't wanna leave to get another water bottle, so... I remember falling and everything turning black, and the next thing I knew, I was in your house."

"Well, yeah."

"Someday I'm gonna return your Cyclone Smashes. Just you wait, bastard!"

"... Okay." Ryoma thought it was somewhat strange to see Ayame that fired up, and wondered if he missed anything when she talked to him.

 _After I get past Ryoma's Cyclone Smashes, I should go to Momoshiro-senpai for the Jack Knives..._ Ayame thought. _And even though I would never do it, the strange kid for his super-ultra-mega-something-something-storm... But wait, who is stronger anyway?! Momoshiro-senpai or the strange kid?! Oh, never mind. I could also just go to Kawamura-senpai or that gorilla... no, Sanada-san from Rikkaidai._

"But anyway, thanks for taking the time out to hit with me," Ayame said as she packed away her racket.


	39. Yamato Kokeshi

**Chapter 39: Yamato Kokeshi**

Ayame was on her way to the rooftop when she walked past Momo. She saw that he looked deep in thought, so she stopped.

"What's wrong, Momoshiro-senpai?" she asked.

"Oh, Ayame-chan," Momo said as he appeared to just acknowledge that she was talking to him. "I was just hoping that the Yamato kokeshi appears in my locker."

"The what?" Ayame tilted her head to the side, confused at what Momo was saying.

"It's the kokeshi that Yamato-buchou left behind as a good luck charm in the locker room," Momo explained.

"Yamato… buchou?"

"Eh? Echizen didn't tell you who he is?"

"No. A former captain, I'm assuming though."

"Yeah. He was the captain of the tennis team when the seniors were still freshmen."

"And you're saying he left behind a kokeshi doll in you boys' locker room, is that right?"

"Yeah. And it appears in the locker of whoever did the best during club activities."

 _Isn't that a little… creepy…?_ Ayame thought, but then she shook her head. _No… Somebody is moving it. That's it._

She then looked up to face Momo. "Isn't it because somebody put it there?"

"No, nobody moves it," Momo replied.

Ayame narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Are you really sure it's not some kind of prank?"

"Of course it's not!"

Ayame stared at Momo like as if he lost his mind. _I gotta hear what Ryoma has to say on this matter…_

"By the way, Ayame-chan…" Momo started. "How come you don't call me Momo?"

"You really want me to call you that that badly?" Ayame asked.

"I didn't mean that. It's just that you're the only freshman who wouldn't call me that, and I want to know why," Momo answered.

"Okay, even though I learned American culture first where shortening names is totally normal, I don't like to shorten names. I think it might be because Ryoma and Ryoga's names were similar, and if I shortened them at all, I could possibly be referring to either one of them. And since they were my only friends, it's more natural for me to say an entire name. I really hated it when Ryoga called me "Ay-chan" since it's a shortened version of my name plus the "-chan" honorific, but he wouldn't stop, so I had to grow used to it."

"So you're saying you didn't have any friends other than Echizen and his aniki?"

"Yes. Because everyone was scared of me at school. Even though I never attacked anybody deliberately, I only attacked out of self-defense or if they provoked me into doing it or if I saw an older person bullying a younger person. But anyways, I gotta go find Ryoma."

She walked away, arrived at the rooftop, and found Ryoma. She bent down and began shaking his shoulder. Feeling Ayame shaking him, Ryoma opened his eyes. "… What is it…?"

"I'm really sorry to wake you now, Ryoma, but I wanna talk with you. I dunno if you know, but Momoshiro-senpai was telling me some nonsense about a teleporting kokeshi in the tennis locker room," Ayame said.

"Ah!" a surprised expression flickered across Ryoma's face for a split second, and Ayame saw.

"Oh, so they tell you that stuff too? Does it actually teleport?"

"… I guess. I don't think so myself, but I don't have any proof that somebody is moving it."

"I see… Well, then, can you do a few things for me?"

"What?"

"I wanna get to the bottom of this, but the problem is that I can't walk into a boys' changing room. This is where you come in. Every time you go to the locker room, tell me if the kokeshi moved."

"… That sounds bothersome. No."

"C'mon, do it for me. Please?"

"No."

"If you do, I'll buy you a week's worth of Ponta."

"… Alright, I'll do it."

"Okay, thanks! You can go back to sleep now."

As Ayame left the rooftop, she then remembered that one time she walked into the boys' bathroom at Rikkaidai. She would never do that, but it was because Kirihara had locked himself inside one of the stalls. He had been humiliated about wearing a dress. Despite her doing her best to hold back the temptation, Ayame couldn't resist the thought of seeing Kirihara wearing a dress, so she went inside the bathroom to taunt him into coming out.

* * *

Ayame looked over the bush at the tennis clubroom and began writing in her notebook.

 _This makes me feel as creepy as Inui-senpai, but this is the only way to find out who the culprit is on moving the kokeshi…_ Ayame thought.

She had decided to hide in the bushes before and after morning practice, during lunch break, and before club activities to log the time of when each tennis club member goes in and out of the clubroom and then ask Ryoma to look inside the clubroom when club activities start. She was trying to find out who was in the clubroom before the location of the kokeshi changes to slowly single out her suspects. She also marked the time when Ryoma checked the kokeshi's location for her.

On the second day, after Ayame had written down all the tennis club members who were in the clubroom before Ryoma checked the kokeshi, she witnessed something that she found amusing. Before Tezuka had officially started the practices, she watched Inui walk up to Ryoma, who was with Kikumaru and Tezuka.

"I've created a new Inui Juice," Inui announced. "Try it, Echizen."

"N-no…" Ryoma stuttered as he looked around wildly, supposedly looking for an escape route.

 _Gambatte, Ryoma…_ Ayame thought. _I can't help you, nor would I help you if I could._

It was then Ryoma looked up at Tezuka. "Ah, at such time, I'm sure the buchou will! For Seigaku's bright future! Of course you will drink it. Because you're the buchou!"

Ayame saw a grin spread across Kikumaru's face. "Good one, Ochibi! That's right! The buchou will have to drink it for sure! You will have to demonstrate to the club members or they won't follow you!"

 _So Ryoma values his life more than Tezuka-senpai…_ Ayame thought. _Makes sense. I would do anything to not die from that poison. Even if it means pawning it off on the buchou._

"… Me?" Tezuka was hoping that the two weren't actually talking about him.

Ryoma noticed Tezuka's slight hesitation. "Buchou, running away at this moment is not manly at all."

"That's right, that's right!" Kikumaru chimed in.

Tezuka took the drink, his face still void of emotion. Ayame could tell that he actually got provoked by Ryoma and Kikumaru, and she thought that was saying something. Holding back her laugh, she watched Tezuka drink the juice. It was her first time seeing Tezuka fall prey to Inui Juice, so she was quite excited to see it happen. Ryoma and Kikumaru watched Tezuka, wide-eyed. After Tezuka consumed the drink, his glasses flashed white, a choking sound escaped him, and then he ran off.

"Uwah! Tezuka ran to the drinking place!" Kikumaru exclaimed in surprise. "The new Inui Juice has destructive power, nya!"

"Now that Tezuka has drank it, why don't you two drink it as well?" Inui asked as he took out another drink. "You won't be able to run away this time."

Ayame cringed at Inui's voice going sinister at his last sentence. Right when he had said that, Kikumaru and Ryoma took off running to avoid drinking his drink.

 _I've always thought Ryoma would put his dignity and respect over his life, but I guess since Inui-senpai's drinks are both torture and death, he values his life more…_ Ayame thought.

After club activities had ended (sometime in the middle when Tezuka returned from recovering, he had yelled, "Echizen, Kikumaru! 50 laps!"), Ayame waited until Ryoma changed back into his school uniform and met him outside the clubroom.

"I saw what you and Kikumaru-senpai did earlier! That was cool!" Ayame said as she playfully slapped Ryoma.

"Ow…" Ryoma muttered as Ayame's hand made contact with his back.

"You've got a lot of guts to go against Tezuka-senpai like that and then take the punishment," Ayame said.

"… I only did it so that I won't drink Inui-senpai's weird juice…" Ryoma said. "By the way, how is it?"

"How's what?"

"Your investigation."

"Oh, right, yeah. Still haven't gotten a clue. Too many suspects right now, so we'll have to keep going."

* * *

Days passed, and Ayame was able to narrow down to a few suspects, but wasn't able to single out one. She decided to ask Ryoma to do one more favor to uncover this mystery, so she met up with him privately on the rooftop during lunch break. She made sure to sit near the door to listen in case if anybody was coming.

"First of all, thanks for checking the kokeshi every school day for me," Ayame started. "But we're on the final part. I'll need you to do something unthinkable and really creepy."

"What will that be?" Ryoma asked, feeling uneasy about what was coming.

"Well, before I get there, lemme tell you what I know. I've noticed that the person would change the kokeshi's location at like after morning practice or before lunch break. So be the first person in the clubroom after morning practice and hide inside your locker. It HAS to be tomorrow or else we'd have to wait over a week for another go."

"Why?"

"Because looking at the kokeshi patterns, the culprit will move the kokeshi into your locker next."

"Why should I hide in my own locker? I'll be late for class."

"You can ride on my back so I can run back into the school and take you to your classroom."

"No way."

She looked over him. _He's probably thinking it'd be embarrassing if anyone sees him riding on me…_

Ayame attempted to convince Ryoma to change his mind. "I'll move so fast that no one would see us. But if you really don't want anyone to see, then I'm gonna have to throw you onto the ground when I stop."

"… And if they did see that I was riding on you?"

"Then I'll have to buy you a month's worth of Ponta instead of a week's worth."

"… It's a deal."

* * *

Tezuka dismissed the regulars, and Ryoma quickly made his way to the clubroom. Ayame heard the sound of a locker door opening and closing soon after, and she assumed that it was Ryoma hiding inside his locker. She was glad that he had done that quickly, as none of the club members had gone inside the clubroom yet.

 _I hope he's able to see so he can change back into his school uniform…_ Ayame thought as she stood near the door to the clubroom.

"Ayame-chan, where did Echizen go?" Momo asked as he stuck his head out the door. "He was first to get inside the clubroom, wasn't he?"

 _Shit!_ Ayame thought. _I didn't think anyone would notice that he's "not" in the clubroom! I need to think of a lie, quick!_

"Perhaps it's true…" Ayame muttered while looking down at the ground to have her hair cover her face.

"Eh? What's true?" Momo asked.

"I was told that it was rumored that the boys' clubroom has a secret tunnel leading from the second floor hallway. Maybe Ryoma found it. He's real lucky to have an easy shortcut back to the school instead of going around outside of it."

"Eh?! Do you know where it is, Ayame-chan?!"

"I don't know. It's just a rumor, and nobody proved that it was true, and Ryoma may have accomplished that now. If you really wanna know, why don't you ask him yourself?"

"That's right… Maybe I should ask Echizen at lunch break later."

Ayame then hoped that Momo wouldn't tell the regulars right then. It was an obvious lie, but Ayame knew that Momo was simple-minded enough to fall for it. If the other regulars heard about the lie, they would know something is up between her and Ryoma as of right now.

Ayame then moved away to the nearby bushes to hide. She took out her cell phone and sent Ryoma a text. She had been prepared, and told him to leave his cell phone on silent, as she would be texting him to communicate.

 _Are you doing okay in there?_ she had typed.

 _I'm fine._ Ryoma replied back.

 _I am hiding in bushes again. When you find out who the culprit is, run to me and I'll take you to class. Also I told a lie that there's a secret tunnel leading to the clubroom from the school. Momoshiro-senpai might ask about it. Pretend like you know about it if he does._

Ayame had watched the regulars leave, and soon there was only one regular inside the clubroom other than Ryoma. She got closer to the clubroom, and heard the unmistakable sound of a locker door opening. There was a holler of surprise, and then the sound of running footsteps. She saw Ryoma burst out of the door, wearing his school uniform.

 _Good, he did change…_ Ayame thought.

Ryoma found Ayame in the bushes, and he clung onto her back without any questions. Ayame then ran full speed to the building and ran past a bunch of students getting to their classrooms. She headed for Ryoma's classroom and made an abrupt halt in front of the classroom door, causing Ryoma to fly off her back and fall onto the ground.

"Ouch…" Ryoma muttered as he got up.

"I'll talk to you later, see you!" Ayame shouted before she sprinted down the hall to get to her classroom.

"Echizen, where were you?" Horio asked as Ryoma made his way to his seat. "What was taking you so long and what were you doing with Kanna?"

Ryoma hesitated as he tried to think of a lie. Whatever Ayame had him do was creepy enough, but it would be even more embarrassing if anyone were to know that he was riding on her.

 _What is one thing she would do to hold me back for so long…?_

"… Ayame made me listen to one of her math lectures and then she realized we were almost late," Ryoma answered. "We ran back here, and she kicked me into the classroom."

"You can run as fast as her now?!" Horio exclaimed in shock.

Ryoma knew that with that kind of reply, Horio didn't see that he was on Ayame's back. Ayame had been running at a fast speed that the human eye couldn't follow and, in one quick motion, flung him off the instant she braked in front of the classroom door. With all the noise she was making from running, naturally everyone in the classroom was looking at the entrance to see if they could see the source of the sound. If Horio couldn't see that he was on Ayame's back, then the whole class couldn't have seen either.

Ryoma was about to get his supplies out to get ready for class until he saw a folded piece of paper that wasn't in his bag before. He took it out and saw that it was written in English:

 _Meet up at the rooftop during lunch break._

 _\- Ayame_

* * *

Ayame opened the door to the rooftop, where she found Ryoma sitting on the ground, waiting for her.

"It was Inui-senpai, right?" Ayame asked.

"Yeah," Ryoma answered. "He looked very surprised to see me hiding in my locker when he opened it."

 _Speaking of hiding in lockers, could Inui-senpai be possibly doing that to stalk people?_ Ayame wondered.

"Why do you think Inui-senpai was moving the kokeshi?" Ryoma asked.

"What do you think? To "collect data" on people, obviously," Ayame said. "I'm sure he's writing down who really believes in the kokeshi bringing good luck and if it really teleports."

"Ah…"

"He was one of my prime suspects."

"Who was the other?"

"Fuji-senpai."

"Fuji-senpai?" Ryoma gave Ayame a quizzical look.

"There's something about him that makes me feel scared."

"Hmm?"

"Well, okay, I thought it might've also been Fuji-senpai, because he gives off this vibe like he wants to make you suffer or something like that."

"When you mention it, Fuji-senpai does like to toy with people…"

"Do you still think it's weird that I suspected Fuji-senpai?"

"… No."

"Well, anyway, I'll keep investigating to see if someone other than Inui-senpai is also involved in this. I'll need you to check to see where the kokeshi is again, but I won't make you hide in a locker anymore. Sorry that I made you do it earlier."

"It's fine. At least we have physical proof that somebody is moving the kokeshi."

"Ah, there you are!" a voice said as someone entered the rooftop.

"Ah, Momo-senpai," Ryoma said in recognition.

"Echizen, Ayame-chan said that it's rumored that there's a tunnel leading from the clubroom into the school," Momo started. "Did you really find a tunnel?"

Ryoma was confused, but at that instant, he remembered that Ayame warned him about telling that lie to Momo.

"… Yes. I found a tunnel," Ryoma answered.

"Eh?! You have to tell me where it is sometime!" Momo said, surprised.

"No way," Ryoma said.

Ayame saw the evil glint in Ryoma's eyes, and realized what he was trying to do.

"C'mon, Echizen! You should tell me about it!" Momo said. "Ayame-chan, did Echizen tell you anything about it?"

"No," Ayame said, trying to keep a straight face. "I totally forgot to ask him about it. Ryoma, where's the tunnel?"

"I'm not gonna tell you until Momo-senpai leaves," Ryoma said, knowing that she was playing along with the lie.

"That's not fair, Echizen!" Momo complained.

"I'll tell you where the tunnel is if you buy me some plum-flavored crackers every day."

Momo sighed. "It can't be helped… Fine."

 _This bastard's lucky that I made up a stupid lie and he's taking advantage of Momoshiro-senpai by using it…_ Ayame thought, somewhat amused.

* * *

Ryoma opened the door to the rooftop and found Ayame sitting there, reading a book. She looked up when she heard the door open.

"Yo," Ayame greeted. "I found out earlier this morning that Fuji-senpai is also moving the kokeshi around."

"So that means both Inui-senpai and Fuji-senpai are behind it…" Ryoma said.

"Obviously. The kokeshi is still moving in a consistent pattern, so they are in on this together."

"Hmm?"

"I dunno if they want to be found out. If they don't, we can mess with them like you did to Momoshiro-senpai with that obvious lie I made up."

"Heh… you can be thoughtful sometimes."

 _But I'm still gonna be careful around Fuji-senpai, he's one scary guy like Yukimura-san…_ Ayame thought.

* * *

 **I think I've been reading too much Houkago no Oujisama (I have no idea if the manga is still actually ongoing, but the site where I've been reading them has been updating faster than New Prince of Tennis). The recurring panels with the Yamato kokeshi led me to writing all this.  
**

 **The little scene with Ryoma and Kikumaru taunting Tezuka into drinking Inui Juice appears in the Nintendo DS game _Tennis no Ouji-sama: Driving Smash! side Genius_ as a little cutscene that's there purely for humor. I thought the scene was pretty hilarious when I read it off a gamefaq translation guide so I wanted to throw it in.**

 **Ayame had guessed that Inui hides in lockers to stalk people. She is correct on that. If you played Gakupuri and did Inui's route, you would probably know.**


	40. Fallen Kunoichi

**Chapter 40: Fallen Kunoichi**

 _Ayame collapsed to the ground as she panted to catch her breath. She then stared up at the older boy at the other side of the court, who was now tossing an orange in his hands. Ryoma, watching from the sidelines, looked on nervously._

 _"Mada mada daze, Ay-chan!" Ryoga taunted, giving an arrogant look at the 5-year old girl._

 _Ayame clenched a fist as she glared at him._

Someday... _she thought fiercely._ Someday, I will beat you, Ryoga... just you wait...

* * *

Ayame climbed over the gate and walked inside of the Echizen home.

"Oh, hello there, Ayame-chan," Nanako greeted.

"Hello... Nanako-san," Ayame said back.

"Ryoma-san is home," Nanako said. "He's in his room."

"Thanks," Ayame said as she climbed the stairway.

She saw that the door was closed, so she knocked on it. "Ryoma?"

There was no answer, so she waited for a bit before knocking again. "Ryoma?"

She tried a third time, and still no answer. "Ryoma, I've knocked three times, and you haven't answered, so I'm coming in whether you like it or not!"

Ayame opened the door and walked into the room. Looking around, she realized that Ryoma wasn't answering because he was busy napping. She picked up his alarm clock, set it for two minutes later from the current time, and held onto it. The alarm then went off after the allotted time. Ryoma reached for the spot where the alarm clock was initially.

His hand blindly reached around the spot for about twenty-one seconds before he opened his eyes to see why the hell he wasn't touching the alarm clock. It was then he realized that the alarm clock wasn't at its initial spot, so he looked over to see Ayame sitting on his swivel chair, holding it. She set the alarm back to its initial time before she put it back.

Ryoma began rubbing his eyes. "What is it?"

"I wanna go to America, but Dad won't let me unless you come with me. Do you wanna go?" Ayame asked. "If you don't, it's okay."

Ryoma was silent for a few moments. "I'll go."

* * *

The two freshmen met up at the airport and took the flight to New York. Ayame, feeling insomniac that night, ended up staring out of the window for the remainder of the ride, completely lost in her thoughts. Ryoma slept for the whole ride, and Ayame had to wake him when the plane landed. They went back to the same hotel they were previously staying at. Almost right after they settled down, Ayame left the room, leaving Ryoma staring at her, wondering where she could possibly be going so soon after they arrived.

* * *

Ryoma heard the front door open as Ayame got inside and she closed it behind her. He noticed that she had on an expression that he has not seen for such a long time. It was a lifeless, blank expression.

"Did something happen?" Ryoma asked.

"Nothing," Ayame answered.

Ayame walked across the room, dropped her tennis bag to the corner, and then sat down at the dining table, staring at nothing in particular.

 _Strange..._ he thought.

He then suddenly recalled the time he met Ayame. He had first seen her when she walked into his backyard and asked Nanjiroh to teach her tennis. Although her tone expressed shyness, she had the same expressionless face that she had now, and she had it on constantly. At some point in time, Ryoma had asked Takeda why she always had that face on, and he had said that it was because Houko was killed. Ryoma was unable to remember exactly why she stopped having that face on, but he knew that within a week after she met him, that expression disappeared.

Ryoma knew that since she suddenly had that expression after all those years, something obviously happened. The problem is that Ayame refused to tell him anything to as to why she suddenly went that way.

The next few days for Ryoma felt awkwardly silent in the room. Ayame no longer spoke, and only did so when he asked her something, though she answered very vaguely. She would not go on any more strolls, and she stopped carrying her tennis bag on her shoulder all the time. Ryoma ended up doing the shopping as Ayame never step foot out of the room. He noticed that she had been sitting in the darkest corner of the room. He eventually felt that he had to do something.

"Ayame, take your racket with you and come with me," Ryoma said.

Ayame stood up and got her tennis bag. She followed Ryoma and he led her to a tennis court. As soon as she saw it, she paused.

"What are you hesitating for?" Ryoma asked.

"N-nothing," Ayame responded.

"Then get in."

Ayame reluctantly followed Ryoma into the tennis court. Ryoma motioned to her to stand at one end of the court, and he went to the other. He then served a ball, and Ayame made no effort to return it.

"What are you doing?" Ryoma called. "Return the ball!"

He hit another serve, and this time Ayame returned it. However, she hit it too far outside of the court. Ryoma continued serving, and every one of Ayame's returns either hit the net or went out.

"Is there anything worrying you?" Ryoma called.

"No, nothing at all," Ayame answered.

Ryoma wasn't sure what caused Ayame to be in the state she is now, but he was somewhat angered that she was that way, and wasn't going to let her give up that easily. He decided to force her back into playing tennis, remembering the times when she forced him into remembering his past life whenever he had amnesia.

"Ayame, I'm not gonna let you leave until you can play decently against me without any of us using Tenimuhou no Kiwami," Ryoma called.

Ayame wasn't sure whether to believe Ryoma or not. She knew that the only time he was actually serious was when he was playing an intense match. Ryoma kept his word, and it was then Ayame finally believed that he was being serious.

 _Does he know...?_ she wondered.

Ryoma did not use any of his moves, and Ayame struggled to return the balls. The next time she had tried to return the ball, a force threw off her timing. She recognized it as Gemini. As the ball flew out, Ayame looked up to see Ryoma smirking at her.

She would've felt irked that he attacked her with the move she likes to use, but instead she put on an amused look while muttering under her breath. "Bastard..."

Ryoma, seeing life return to her expression, relentlessly attacked her with her own Gemini moves, until she began keeping up a rally with him

 _This feeling..._ Ayame thought as she kept running and swinging her arm. _This feeling of playing tennis and enjoying it... Ryoma must've known I had lost badly in a match... That's why he forced me to play with him..._

Right then, Ryoma began to play seriously, and Ayame realized that he had sensed that she was reverting back to her old self. Ryoma held serve, and Ayame put on a mischievous grin as her hair covered her face. She tied back her hair and took a ball out of her pocket. She then served, and Ryoma prepared to return. To his surprise, when the ball landed, it kicked up an explosion of dust.

"Nani?!" Ryoma cried in shock.

The ball flew right at his face, and he moved his head out of the way as the ball narrowly missed and hit the fence behind him, the passing wind causing his cap to get blown off his head.

"15-0!" Ayame declared.

Ryoma stared back up at Ayame. "That was a Twist Serve?!"

"Don't call it that!" Ayame called back. "It's my Smoke Bomb!"

Ryoma smirked in amusement. "Heh... not bad. But that naming sense is so like you."

"The first people to know about my Smoke Bomb are the tennis club members back at Seigaku. Then the Rikkai guys knew. So sorry, you're not first to know this time."

While walking over to pick up his cap, Ryoma then tried to figure out when Rikkaidai had learned about Ayame's Smoke Bomb. Certainly not when he went down to their school to bring Ayame's cell phone. She had said that she didn't play any matches with them. He then tried to remember the other times Ayame had encountered them. There was the Nationals. During the second round, she had wandered around the grounds for the majority of the time, especially during the Doubles 1 game. But then again, Rikkaidai was playing their match, so there would be no possible way Ayame would've shown her Smoke Bomb.

Ryoma finally remembered one last time that Ayame was with Rikkaidai: the Ocean Festival. He had nearly forgotten because he himself wasn't there. He only knew because Momo called him in the middle of the night while they were apparently doing some sort of play (he had forgotten that it was Cinderella). The only thing he remembered about the conversation with Momo was when Momo told him that Ayame had to kiss Sanada (which knocked him out of his drowsy state in surprise, and he definitely remembered that happening). He concluded that Ayame must've used the Smoke Bomb during that time, but wondered why she would use it at a festival. It didn't take him long to come to two possibilities: she was either playing a match, or she was using it to avoid detection. The latter would be the most likely scenario because she later caused a ruckus at the festival.

"Oi, are you ready?" Ayame called, interrupting his thoughts.

Ryoma went back to his position. "Just serve already."

Ayame served, and when the ball landed, it revealed that Ayame had used another Smoke Bomb. Ryoma prepared to return it, but to his surprise, it went the opposite direction.

 _She can hit it like her reverse Twist?!_ Ryoma thought. _If she can do that, that means she can use it as a Twist Smash, too!_

As the two rallied, Ryoma prepared himself for whenever Ayame hit a Twist Smash in the form of a Smoke Bomb. It never came.

 _Oh, right…_ Ryoma remembered. _Ayame doesn't know how to hit a Twist Smash._

Ayame prepared herself to return the ball, and Ryoma saw a movement from her that he has never seen: she began spinning her body as she swung her racket.

"Take this!" she shouted as she returned the ball.

When the ball hit the ground, it did a low bounce in the opposite direction, causing Ryoma's eyes to widen and his mouth to gape in shock. There was a moment of silence as the ball rolled slowly until it hit the net.

"Hmm… Pretty interesting drive shot you got there," Ryoma said after recovering.

"The last time I tried to use it, the spin didn't go quite right," Ayame said. "But I think I finally got the move down. I still haven't thought of a name for it yet."

"How long has it been since you first used the move?" Ryoma asked.

"For about a week," Ayame answered. "But it was incomplete up until now…"

Ayame then recalled the first time she had executed the move…

* * *

 _"Here I go!" Ayame shouted as she served with her left hand._

 _Kirihara returned the ball and Ayame rallied with him while watching him carefully. Finally, Kirihara hit a cross court shot with both hands, and Ayame rushed to the ball… only for it to seemingly vanish and then suddenly reappear out of the corner of her eye, bouncing away._

 _"Is this what you wanted to perfect?" Ayame asked._

 _"Yes," Kirihara answered. "It's Phantom Ball, used to defeat left-handed players."_

 _"I see… By hitting it cross court like that, left-handed players would instinctively return with a backhand, and with the fast spin on the ball, it would bounce away right out of their range of vision, making it seem like as though it disappeared…" Ayame observed, while feeling like a fool for doing left-handed instincts when she was really right-handed._

 _"How did you know all that?" Kirihara asked, surprised._

 _"Don't underestimate my sight," Ayame said. "Okay, it's not the same as Ryoma's where he can track motion, but since the ball was close to me, I saw the spin on it. I only needed to see it once to figure out how it works. You might be thinking, since I know all that, I can easily do it, but techniques are easier explained than done."_

 _"So you're saying if you can see the ball close-up, you can see its spin?"_

 _"Yes. If I could see it up close, I can roughly – but not exactly – determine what it'll do next depending on its spin. Well, okay, anyone can see the spin when the ball is close, but I can see it with ease, where a normal person has to look a bit closer to see the spin. I can't rely on that alone. Most of the times I would be in the sidelines. I listen to the impact when the ball gets returned to help me determine the next action more accurately. And I watch how the racket is swung. That really helps."_

That must be why she has a concentrated look whenever she watches a match… _Kirihara thought, as he did notice during Yukimura's match with Ryoma, Ayame had been watching intently for the most part… minus the part where she looked away after watching Ryoma suffering from Yips._

 _Ayame went back to position and served. She watched Kirihara until he used Phantom Ball. As the ball went to her side, she switched the racket to her dominant hand and attempted a Ninja Dash. However, in her haste to switch hands and to execute a Ninja Dash simultaneously, she partially lost balance as she swung her racket, and spun to regain balance. She still managed to return the ball before it passed by the baseline, and it landed in front of the net on Kirihara's side. Kirihara rushed up to return it, but to both players' surprise, the ball bounced backward._

 _"Wh… What was that ball just now?!" Kirihara cried._

 _Ayame paid no attention and instead was staring at her racket while lightly swinging it._

 _"Kanna?!" Kirihara called._

 _Ayame looked up, looking like as though she snapped out of a daze. "Nandemonai. Alright, let's continue."_ ( **A/N:** **nandemonai = nothing/never mind** )

 _Ayame served and that got Kirihara's mind off of the ball that Ayame had hit. While they rallied, Ayame couldn't stop thinking about the drive shot she accidentally hit…_

* * *

Ayame went back to reality and began shouting at Ryoma. "Ryoma, you have a lot of drive shots up your sleeve, so you give it a name!"

Ryoma sighed. "Mendokusai…" ( **A/N:** **mendokusai = bothersome** )

"C'mon! Do it! I'm sure it only took you ten seconds to come up with names like COOL Drive and Samurai Drive!"

"Hmm… How about… Hensoku Drive?" ( **A/N:** 変則ドライブ **hensoku doraibu = irregular drive** )

"Eetto… I don't think I could think of a better name, so I'll leave it at that. Hensoku Drive it is!"

She prepared to hit another serve. "Oi, should we even out the score and start playing seriously from there?"

"Fine," Ryoma replied as he saw the motivation shine in her eyes.

The two evened out their score at 3-3 and then activated Tenimuhou no Kiwami.

* * *

"Game and match… 6-4…" Ryoma stated.

 _D-Damn…_ Ayame thought. _He came out with the 50_ _th_ _win… I guess it's my fault for slacking off for all those days…_

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma taunted.

An angered Ayame provoked Ryoma into playing another match, and this time she won.

"I guess that's it," Ayame said afterward.

"Yeah," Ryoma said.

Ryoma packed away his racket and stood up to leave. However, he didn't move, and Ayame quizzically stared at him.

"Ayame," he started. "I don't know what happened to you for the past few days, but I won't ask."

Ayame felt relieved. She did not want to talk about her loss.

"Anyway… you shouldn't lose sight of your goals," Ryoma continued, eyeing her solemnly. "There will be a lot of obstacles that you'll come across that'll make you feel uncool, but that just means you just have to try harder."

"Why are you telling me this?" Ayame asked.

"Because you looked confused," Ryoma answered.

With that, he began walking out of the court. Ayame watched him as he made his way through the gate. She swallowed the knot in her throat.

"Ryoma!" Ayame called.

Ryoma stopped to look back.

"Thank you!" Ayame called.

Ryoma looked at Ayame for a few moments before pulling down the visor of his cap to hide a smile on his face. He then turned away to continue walking. Ayame picked up a tennis ball and began rallying against the wall.

 _Ryoma's right! I can't give up!_ Ayame thought, full of determination. _His goal is to beat that old pervert, and mine is to beat Ryoga! He loses all the time, but he still keeps on trying! I have to be the same! But I gotta say, he isn't as much as a bastard as I always thought he was._

* * *

 _Not yet, not yet_

 _Don't give up_

 _Ignore your voice of uncertainties_

 _Sparkling, sparkling_

 _Let the rays of the sun heal your injuries_

 _Forever…_

 **\- "Still" of Echizen Ryoma's album "Ryoma"  
**

* * *

 **Hensoku Drive is actually a move that the player learns in the PS2 game, _Tennis no Oujisama: Sweat & Tears 2_ (I wish I had the game, it looks pretty interesting). Ryoma helps the player develop it after they ask him to teach them Drive B, to which he refuses to (he tells them that they have to play their own style of tennis... sounds like he's passing on what Tezuka told him), leading to the move's development. After the player masters it, they beg him to give it a name, and although he had said it was "bothersome," it took him ten seconds to come up with the name after he gives in to the player's begging.**

 **As clarification on Ayame's sharp sense of sight, she cannot track spin like Ryoma and Kikumaru. Her sight allows her to see tiny details of an object up close without straining her eyes. However, this makes them slow to adjust to sudden inappropriate lighting, such as if her surroundings are suddenly very bright or pitch black.  
**


	41. The Accident

**Whoaaaaaaa, I didn't even touch this fanfic for over a month. My bad.**

* * *

 **Chapter 41: The Accident**

Ryoma relaxed in the chair as he took another bite of the egg sandwich. It was an egg sandwich that his friend Ayame made for him, and he liked the way she made it. Sometimes when he took a break from his strolls and returned to the room, she would make an egg sandwich for him and leave it on the table for him to eat. It was a gesture of gratitude that she started doing after he helped her get back into tennis when she lost hope in it.

Ryoma's thoughts went to that time where Ayame had fallen into that state of despair. It was very rare for her to feel that way. He knew she was very tough in the mind, and only an event that would be so shocking to her would cause her to fall apart like that. He was wondering what would, though. One possibility came to mind: Takeda passing away. But nothing like that happened, and she refused to tell him, so it left Ryoma wondering what could've shocked Ayame that badly.

He looked at the time and noticed that it was a little late, and Ayame wasn't back yet. They would usually return to their room at a certain time in the evening, but Ryoma assumed that Ayame was just running a little late. He thought that she was probably playing tennis or in another gang war, the latter in which he thought that she was crazy for participating in.

Without any more thought on the matter, he took out his Gameboy Advance and turned it on to pass the time. He was determined to not lose to Ayame the next time they played video games together. After he was done, he went into the bathroom to take a shower.

By the time he was out of the bath, an hour had passed since he had returned to the room, and Ayame still hasn't shown up. Knowing that Ayame is a punctual person, he figured that there was no way she would be an hour late. Wondering what she was doing, he took out his cell phone and called her number. He held the phone to his ear until the answer machine came on. Looking out the window, it was dark outside, and Ryoma began to get a little concerned.

He wanted to go out and look for her, but knew clearly that it's a lot more dangerous to be wandering the New York streets at night rather than Tokyo. He knew that Ayame was smart and agile, similarly to a real ninja, so he figured that she could avoid getting into trouble at night. But that still didn't explain why she wasn't back yet and why she didn't answer his call. Whatever the case, Ryoma knew that he wouldn't know what was holding her up unless he heard from the said person herself or from someone who has seen her. With nothing else to do, he eventually went to bed. Ayame had not returned by then.

* * *

Ryoma didn't know how long he had slept when he was woken up by a ringing sound. Assuming it to be the alarm clock on the nightstand, he subconsciously reached for it and hit the snooze button. The sound ceased, which brought complete silence into the room. But a few seconds later, the ringing sound started up again, prompting Ryoma to hit the button again. He was puzzled when the sound persisted even after his hand hit it, and then ceased. When the sound started up a third time, he realized that it wasn't coming from the clock at all. It was the ringing of the hotel room phone. Ryoma opened his eyes and his surroundings were drowned in darkness, as his mind registered that it was sometime in the middle of the night. He pushed himself up and reached for the phone on the nightstand.

" _Hello…?_ " he mumbled drowsily, rubbing his eyes to keep himself from falling back asleep.

" _Are you Ryoma Echizen?_ " a voice asked on the other side.

" _Yes…_ " Ryoma hoped that it wasn't some kind of stalker he was dealing with here.

" _Sorry for calling you at this hour, but it's about Ayame Kanna…_ "

At the mention of his best friend's name, Ryoma then looked over to the bed on the other side of the room. There was enough moonlight pouring through the window for him to see that the bed was unoccupied. When his mind registered that fact, a foreboding feeling ran over him, which knocked him awake. " _What happened to her?_ "

" _She got stabbed earlier in the day and had been in the emergency room up until now._ "

Ryoma dropped the receiver in shock, but picked it back up. " _Is she okay?!_ "

" _She's expected to recover soon._ "

" _I see…_ " Ryoma felt an intense amount of relief wash over him.

Ryoma couldn't really remember anything about the conversation with the caller afterward, other than being told which hospital Ayame was in. He had trouble sleeping that night, despite telling himself that Ayame was okay.

* * *

Ryoma got dressed and immediately made his way to the hospital that Ayame was in. He visited her room and found her playing on her Gameboy Advance.

"Ryoma!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw him.

"Where did you get stabbed?" he asked.

"I got stabbed in the chest. It wasn't a fatal wound, fortunately… Nngh!" Ayame winced.

"Ah… are you okay?" Ryoma's expression showed concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"How did it happen?"

"One of the gangsters in the last gang war I was in had a knife and stabbed me with it."

Ryoma sighed. "Ayame, you should really stop with the gang wars. This time you got a serious injury."

"It won't happen again, I swear!"

"To make sure you're not getting any ideas, I'll tell Takeda-san the next time you get yourself in a gang war."

"You wouldn't." Ayame knew that even if she didn't tell Ryoma that she got involved in one, she always came out with one injury that he always notices right away.

"I will. I don't want to make up excuses whenever you get seriously injured like this. I can't keep hiding from Takeda-san, so stop getting yourself in those fights."

Ayame saw that Ryoma was serious and knew that she was going to have to listen to what he said. She knew that he just didn't want her to get hurt, and was finally pushed to the point where he would even tell her father. And if her father knew, he wouldn't trust Ryoma to stay with her in America, and that would kill any chances of her getting to meet up with Ryoga and go around with Ryoma.

Ayame sighed in resignation. "Okay. I will not go in those fights anymore. But don't tell my dad about this, please."

Ryoma saw her wince again. Seeing her in a condition like this that landed her in the hospital made him feel irresponsible. He had Takeda's trust to make sure nothing happens to her, and he had assumed that Ayame would stay out of trouble. But this assumption led to this incident. If he had discouraged her from getting involved in those violent fights, this wouldn't have happened. She had been doing many things for him, such as helping on his homework and buying him Ponta, and the least he could've done was to prevent her from getting hurt like this.

Ryoma eventually left the room. As he walked through the hospital exit, he didn't notice that a passing older visitor with his face concealed by his jacket hood was looking over him as they passed by each other.

* * *

 _Ahhh…_ Ayame sighed. _I lose to Ryoga and then I get injured… My week can't get any worse…_

The door opened and Ayame looked up to see the same tall boy with the jacket come into the room.

"Oi, Ay-chan!" the boy said.

"Oh, hi Ryoga," Ayame said as the boy took off his hood.

Ryoga noticed that she wasn't in her enthusiastic mood whenever she saw him. "So what happened this time? Why are you here?"

"I got stabbed. But I'm okay now."

Ryoga's eyes widened in shock. "Ay-chan, you got stabbed?!"

"Yeah. Didn't I just say so?"

Ryoga was speechless as Ayame continued speaking after a moment of silence. "Heh... Usually I'm the one who's feared... but looks like this time I've fallen. I'm betting right now that one of those boys are laughing that I finally took a stab wound."

Ryoga regained his composure. "Ay-chan… that's not something to take lightly. You're lucky you survived."

"I am."

Ryoga was reminded of Ryoma's indifferent attitude that he usually sees. "Did you turn into Chibisuke? You're starting to sound like him."

"No. I just don't wanna talk about it. Mostly I don't wanna tell Dad."

"Is that so?"

He looked over Ayame as she stared out the window rather gloomily.

 _Does she really feel that bad?_ Ryoga wondered. _What can I do to cheer her up?_

"Is there anything you want to do right now?" he asked.

"I just wanna go back outside or go back to the room," Ayame answered. "Or play games with Ryoma. But he just left and it'll be troublesome for him to come back down here again."

 _Well, that didn't work…_ Ryoga thought, beginning to feel a bit guilty.

"What's wrong?" Ayame asked.

"N-no, it's nothing," Ryoga answered.

 _If only you were interested in video games, Ryoga…_ Ayame mentally sighed as she looked at him.

When they were kids, Ayame, Ryoma, and Ryoga never had any interests in video games. Their only interests were causing mischief by stealing from the neighbors and tennis. It was only after Ryoga left when the rise of video games came. Ryoma had received a Gameboy Advance as a graduation gift, and he quickly got absorbed into the gaming device. Ayame watched him play, and this resulted her in liking video games too. With Ryoga's absence, he was unaware of the two younger children playing video games, so he didn't take it up.

Seeing Ayame's disappointed face, Ryoga had the urge to call Ryoma to come down and play video games with Ayame. But then again, he only had Ayame's number and not Ryoma's. After his match with Ayame, he noticed that she was visibly upset about her loss. She had left the court quickly without saying a word. For the next few days, she had not been picking up his phone calls, which led Ryoga to believe that she was feeling depressed. When he heard Ayame's reason for being in a hospital room, Ryoga was then convinced that she stabbed herself, which made him feel guilty and responsible for her injury.

"How did you get stabbed?" Ryoga asked. "Tell me everything."

"I was fighting gangsters… like usual," Ayame began. "And when there was one guy standing, he drew a knife. A knife was one of the last few things I expected, so when I saw it, I couldn't move. He ran up to me and stabbed me right here… The last thing I remember was hearing a siren, and then being moved… I passed out before they arrived at the hospital… When I came to, I was in the emergency room. When they moved me here, I looked at the time and realized that it was very late. I knew Ryoma would know something happened because I never returned to the room. But what worried me the most is if Dad found out about this. So I managed to persuade the hospital into telling Ryoma instead. They called the hotel room, so he found out about it, and visited me earlier."

"Why don't you want to tell your old man?" Ryoga questioned.

"Because if he knows, he won't trust Ryoma to be with me, and I won't get to go to America again," Ayame answered. "It took me everything to try to persuade Dad into moving to Japan so I could play with Ryoma. He doesn't want to move back when he finally found a job in Japan after all these months. And if he were to hear that I suffered a stab injury, he'll have me come back at once. So I have to keep this a secret from him."

"I see…" Ryoga noticed a faint sign of fear as Ayame told her story.

"So please, Ryoga, don't tell him. I'm begging you."

"… Alright. I won't tell him as long as you stop getting into those fights."

Ayame frowned. "Ryoma said the same thing to me."

Ryoga then realized that Ayame was actually terrified of the situation and was only pretending to act tough. "Well, that's good."

Ryoga felt relieved that Ryoma is in the same boat as him, as Ayame surely wouldn't protest if the two boys had the same thoughts. He was also relieved to learn that Ayame didn't stab herself. He had known that Ayame viewed the world as harsh, which was due to her mother's death and his sudden departure from six years ago. He had assumed that she had reached her breaking point when she lost to him in similar fashion to seven years ago; she failed to score a point in both cases.

Ayame swore to defeat Ryoga in tennis after she was utterly beaten by him when they were still grade schoolers. Like Ryoma, Ayame worshiped Ryoga, but envied him at the same time. Ryoga seemed to be superior over her for many things, though there were a few exceptions, such as speed and acting (her ruses for fooling neighbors allowed her to have great acting skills). However, she wanted to surpass him at what he is best at doing: tennis. She had felt jealous that he was very good at tennis, though she kept that to herself, and it infuriated her even more when he easily crushed her in a serious match. As time went on, her feelings of envy dissipated, but she still clung to her goal of defeating him in a match.

When Ayame had played Ryoga, she knew that there is still the possibly of losing. However, she never expected to lose without scoring any points. She had expected to at least win one game, but since that didn't happen, it had sent a huge emotional shock in her mind. Despite the fact that she was very good at holding in her emotions (save for the idea of her and Ryoma dating) and that she had a tough mind, it was too much for her to bear. She had devoted her next seven years into training to defeat Ryoga, but she was beaten again, just like that. It made her feel hopeless and that she'll never catch up. When Ryoma reminded her that he always lost to Nanjiroh, she remembered that the two Echizens would rally for hours, but Ryoma never scored a point. Despite that, Ryoma kept going for years… and is still at it even after ten years passed. He still wasn't anywhere close to beating Nanjiroh, but has been making very slow and visible progress. Ayame realized that if she couldn't score a point past Ryoga, then it just meant that she wasn't ready to face him, and she must practice harder. With that new thought in mind, she doubled her usual training in hopes of finally reaching the point where she could at least score a point past Ryoga.

"So how did the school react when they found out you were friends with Chibisuke?" Ryoga asked, trying to change the subject.

"It was a mix of shock and envy," Ayame answered. "Shock because all the freshmen didn't expect Ryoma to have an old friend. Envy because I know him, just because he's a popular bastard in the grade level. Although on my first day, nobody knew. I didn't have the same class as him. And I couldn't find him during lunch break because he never told me that he takes naps on the rooftop. I only got to talk to him after he was done with club activities, and it was obvious that he would be at the tennis courts. While we were talking, we, uh, were spied on by some of his tennis club teammates, so things escalated on the second day."

"So how did the second day go for you?"

"… You don't wanna know. All I can say is people asked me dumb questions about Ryoma… and rumors of me dating him spread like wildfire. Even though Ryoma and I said a thousand times that we weren't going out, I think half of the school didn't believe us until halfway through the time I spent at the school."

"Ahaha! I can imagine you and Chibisuke dating, though!"

Ayame wanted to kick him, but her injury restricted her movements, so she did whatever was possible for her at that moment: she punched Ryoga.

"Just calm down, Ay-chan, I was kidding," Ryoga said when Ayame's glare did not relent. "Anyway, what are people from Japan like?"

Ayame's expression went into a deep thought, erasing any traces that she had on an angry face a minute ago. "Wellllll… there's enough good people to allow you to go for walks at night. But there're still thieves and those kinds of guys there. Not as many as you'd find in America."

"I see… so it's safer than America."

"Right."

"Well then, if you and Chibisuke are looking after each other, then why do you both take walks by yourselves?"

"What else can we do inside a small hotel room? It's not like Ryoma brought his gaming console with him. Also it's not like we'd be playing on our Gameboy Advances 24 hours a day."

"So I'm curious… What do you usually do every day?"

"I usually get up early to go do a little workout. I like to practice way before everyone's up and about and going to the park. I usually return to the room by late morning and take a break. I'm either playing games or reading during that time. It's a pretty boring time because Ryoma usually doesn't get up until noon. By then, I just go take walks or sometimes go to a tennis court… and when it's evening, I go back to the room for the day. Ryoma usually goes to bed before me."

"You remind me the times when we both tried hard to wake Chibisuke so we can go stealing, but whenever we failed, just the two of us went."

"Yeah… I remember he'd get a little upset whenever he found out that we went without him, though he couldn't really argue with us about the fact that we tried to wake him."

"But hey, that sort of helped in some cases. The neighbors always expected three of us, so they were usually careful of the third, which bought us enough time to make a run for it when they were anticipating someone else who wasn't there."

"We stopped stealing things after you left us. The neighbors obviously noticed, but they still kept their guard up whenever me or Ryoma were near their front yards. I dunno if they noticed that you were gone, but all I can say is they knew we were through with our "crimes" and were relieved that they don't have to keep watching their front yards every minute."

Ayame went silent as she recalled her last adventure she went with the Echizen boys. They considered it to be their greatest heist, as they had managed to break into a neighbor's backyard. Since it was their first time stealing from a backyard, and were expected to invade front yards instead, it took the residents of the targeted house hours to notice that their smaller garden statues plus a few flowerpots were missing. They were automatically suspicious of "those three thieving brats" being involved in the disappearances, but could not prove it. It was impossible for the Echizen boys and Ayame to have climbed the tall wooden fence, and there were no trees that were close enough for them to leap over. Unknownst to anyone, they managed to get inside the backyard by digging a small tunnel under the fence with a spade. They had planned ahead and dug both ends of the tunnel underneath thick bushes. The three children were eventually forced to return the items when Rinko discovered the stolen items hidden in a large hole beneath a hollow tree at the Echizens' front yard (she was suspicious as to why they were celebrating in front of the hollow tree that they barely paid attention to).

"Anyway…" Ayame said. "Don't worry about me. I didn't die. But you better watch out once I'm discharged…"

"Why is that?" Ryoga asked.

Ayame began to give off a dangerous aura as her voice became sinister. "I'll train so fast that I'll crush you in no time!"

Ryoga involuntarily backed off. Ayame had always given off a dangerous aura at times, which never intimidated him, but this time it was different. He sensed that she was dead serious about what she said, and it sounded like she was going to try to kill him rather than defeat him in tennis.

He quickly regained his composure. "I'm looking forward to it. At least score one point next time."

"Oh, you bet I will!" Ayame said, her tone full of confidence.

Ryoga then left the room, relieved to see that Ayame returned to her original self.


	42. Ayame and Kevin

**Chapter 42: Ayame and Kevin**

Ayame wandered over to a tennis court and saw a familiar boy rallying against a wall there. She decided to talk with him and got inside the tennis court.

" _I see you've been getting better,_ " Ayame said in a loud voice, grabbing the boy's attention. " _But copying someone's moves isn't gonna do you any good, especially if it's that guy you want to defeat…_ "

The boy turned around to face her. " _You're Ryoma's girlfriend, right?_ "

" _Childhood friend!_ " Ayame corrected in an irritated tone. " _And my name is Ayame Kanna! Get it right, Ryoma's no. 1 fanboy!_ "

" _My name is Kevin Smith!_ " the boy corrected an in equally irritated tone.

" _Alright then, Kevin Smith… But you DID know that just copying that idiot's moves won't be enough against him, right? He has my moves under his sleeve, and I have his as well… although we can only do an imperfect version of each other's moves. But anyways, it won't do you any good in the long run._ "

" _I don't understand what you mean…_ "

" _You need to play your own style of tennis… Ryoma knows his own style pretty well now, so the next time you play a match against him, don't expect that his moves will go well against him._ "

" _I think I know what you're getting at._ "

" _Ryoma and I know each other's style a little too well, which is why we always have a stalemate match. But as of now, I know that fool's better than me because he got the 50_ _th_ _win and I've been out of commission for a while._ "

" _Out of commission?_ "

" _A few days ago, I took a knife stab to the chest, so I was hospitalized. They just discharged me a few hours ago, and I went back to the room to let Ryoma know. But that jerk wasn't in the room, so I came down here to warm up. I can't let him get ahead of me that easily._ "

Kevin was shocked to hear that Ayame was wounded badly. It had scared him even more about how casually she mentioned it. But since she was fine now, and probably did not want to talk about it, Kevin decided to not dwell on the subject. He was interested about how Ayame got to personally know Ryoma.

" _How did you get to know Ryoma?_ "

" _That idiot and I were next-door neighbors before he moved to Japan,_ " Ayame answered. " _I knew him since we were five. I owe him and his family a lot… My father decided to drop me off at their place whenever he went to work so he wouldn't have to worry about me being all alone at home. Since he started working almost every day, I was at their house frequently. It was Ryoma's creeper of a father who taught me tennis because I asked him._ "

Kevin noticed that she made no mention of her mother, but also decided to not ask her about it. But he was curious about why she had called Nanjiroh a creeper. " _Creeper of a father…?_ "

Ayame realized that she said too much, and she was about to break a swear she made with Ryoma. " _He's just creepy. That's all I can say. Ryoma and his older half-brother Ryoga probably think slightly differently._ "

Kevin became shocked at Ayame's last sentence. " _Ryoma has an older brother?!_ "

" _Yeah. Unfortunately, Ryoma didn't remember him for six years after that time…_ "

" _That time?_ "

" _Y'see, a year after I met Ryoga and Ryoma, their father lost custody over Ryoga to his aunt. Ryoga moved out of the house, and it was one day I could never forget. I was able to take the loss well, except for when I first heard about it, I was in a terrible shock for a few seconds… but I think Ryoga knew that Ryoma would take it hard, so as he was leaving, he told me to look after Ryoma… even though I'm younger than him. I tried to stay strong for Ryoma afterward, but he just grew cold on me. It went on for a long while. He kept treating me like some alien that didn't belong on Earth, and I couldn't understand why._ "

" _Is that the reason why he's so unfriendly?_ "

" _Kinda. Ryoma didn't even want to see me for all that time, and one day his mother told me why. Apparently, he couldn't understand why I was acting all cheerful around him, and he believed that I was glad that Ryoga was gone. He misunderstood that I was trying to stay strong for him, and I had to confront him about it after I found out…_ "

Ayame recalled the conversation she had with Ryoma as she told the story…

* * *

 _Ayame knocked on the bedroom door. "Ryoma?"_

 _"_ _Go away," came the usual response from inside the room._

 _"_ _Please… I need to talk to you!" Ayame begged._

 _"I don't want to listen. Go away," came another response._

 _Ayame tried once more. "You have to listen! Please!"_

 _There was no response from the other side. That did it.  
_

Well, I'm coming in whether you like it or not! I will talk to you! _Ayame thought fiercely._

 _With that, Ayame opened the door and was greeted by a cold glare from Ryoma; the same glare as the time when he coldly turned her away and hurt her feelings.  
_

 _"_ _I told you to go away," Ryoma said, his voice devoid of emotion._

 _"_ _Ryoma, please… let me explain myself…" Ayame said, uncertain on how to start. "Rinko-san told me. You thought that I was glad that Ryoga is gone. But I'm not. I'm really sad that Ryoga left. I knew that you wouldn't be able to take it well when Ryoga left. So when he did, I tried to stay strong for you. I tried to help you forget the pain by having you play with me more. But you turned away from me…"_

 _Ayame looked to see that Ryoma's glaring did not relent, so she continued. "I couldn't abandon you. I tried my hardest to help you through, honest! I don't know if you were listening, but even Ryoga told me to help you. He probably knew that you wouldn't be able to take his leave well either, so he wanted me to help you through it. But you wouldn't let me help you. You… should at least be happy he's not dead… and that we have a chance of meeting him again someday."_

 _Ryoma looked to see that Ayame was struggling to not cry. He knew that when she brought up the subject of death, she was thinking about her mother. He then recalled Nanjiroh talking with Rinko about how the "woman living next door" was killed in an accident and that the daughter had managed to survive. Rinko had then mused that the daughter didn't have any friends to help her through the loss while remarking that she's been having trouble making other friends ever since the incident._

 _As he remembered all that, his expression softened. He should have appreciated Ayame being around. She had felt more devastated about Houko's death and pulled through it alone. Knowing the feeling of losing a loved one, she empathized with him and tried to help him. He also remembered the expression she gave when he first glared at her; betrayed, shocked, hurt, and near tears. At the time, he didn't realize that he had genuinely hurt her. But now he realized it, and knew that despite her tough mind, it still hurt her. He had never been so cold to her since the day they met in person a year ago. She only had him and Ryoga as her friends, as her peers feared her for her unusually violent attitude when provoked. For her to lose one and to have one grow cold on her was very damaging to her psyche._

 _Ryoma began to regret turning away from Ayame while hurting her in the process.  
_

 _"_ _Ayame…" he started._

 _Ayame looked up to see gratitude on Ryoma's expression._

 _"_ _Thank you…" Ryoma finally said after a moment of silence._

 _Ayame felt relieved. She finally managed to get through to him. "Alright, cool. Now let's go hit a little, shall we? I'm sure Ryoga would be pretty mad if he knew we just sat here and acted gloomy."_

* * *

" _I was glad that I finally managed to get Ryoma to stop moping in his bedroom…_ " Ayame finished, glad that she avoided talking about her mother's accident. " _But that jerk still acted cold towards me anyway. I think it has to do with his old man annoying him all the time. And for one other reason that he would probably kill me for if I told you…_ "

Kevin became curious. " _One other reason?_ "

" _Can you promise not to tell him or anybody? It's just gonna be between you and me._ "

" _Sure, I don't mind._ "

" _Alright. Ryoma's actually a very shy boy. It's very obvious back when he was a little kid, as he spent weeks trying to hide from me every time I was around, and he wouldn't say a word to me every time I tried to talk with him. But when he grew older, he tried to hide his shy personality by acting cold and uncaring about his friends. That's also why he treats me like dirt sometimes, but he never means to genuinely hurt me. And that's also why he doesn't talk with people much, why he gives short responses, and why he doesn't really hang around in big crowds. But once he gets to know you, he actually enjoys your company. Although… since he's not very social, he sometimes may say something hurtful by accident, but he doesn't mean to._ "

Kevin wasn't sure to make of what he was just told.

" _Anyway… I'd like to see what kind of tennis style you would like to play,_ " Ayame continued. " _You know Ryoma's by now, but mine… I focus on pressuring my opponents by returning every ball with my high speed and outlasting them even though I'm running very fast. When I lost to Ryoga in a serious match when I was five, I felt like it was all because I ran out of stamina… which is why I focused on that for a long time. And because the first move I made up involved pushing off the ground for a burst of speed and requiring good balance to land after I "dash," I also focused on speed and balance… And all of these actions make my movements similar to that of a ninja's. That's how I earned the title of "Kunoichi" in the American tennis world._ "

" _American? Why not Japanese?_ " Kevin asked.

" _Because I didn't participate in any tennis tournaments in Japan. I just attended the school that Ryoma went to and went to his tournaments to watch. Only a handful of middle school players know me just because I had connections with Ryoma. Apparently by the time I moved to Japan, that idiot made a name for himself. But I'll have to admit, the boys there can play some interesting tennis. And Ryoma's team was pretty fun to hang around with. They were nice to me, even though I'll admit I didn't really treat them like upperclassmen the first time around... But anyway, I've not lost in a tournament I've attended, and neither has Ryoma. But I'm still preparing myself for the day where I'll be seeing Ryoma on the other side of the court in one of my tournaments... It'll be a bit intense and very noisy._ "

" _Noisy?_ " Kevin did not expect that kind of expectation that Ayame had.

" _A controversial thing about the American middle school tennis world is who's better - me or Ryoma. Even though that idiot and I par a lot, nobody notices, so an official match between us would have the world know for sure... or more specifically, who is most likely better. After all, we keep beating each other, so there won't be a definite answer. It's mostly expected that Ryoma would win just for the simple fact that he's a guy. I cannot deny that most ride on that alone. But there are a few who don't judge by gender and believe that I can beat him. But opinions like that are pointless to me. If you win, then you win. It's either that you're better or you were just evenly matched and the victory just happened to be yours. If you lose, then you lose. That just means you have to train harder. That is something that you have to accept. I've come across some sore losers who can't take the fact that they lost to someone like me. But they should know that getting pissed at me won't change anything. They lost, they have to accept it, and train harder. The least I can offer them is my condolences that I'm a girl and I'm that young if they're going to be that bitter about losing to me._ "

Kevin did not know Ayame for long, but he already had some opinions about her. She was definitely the feisty type, as well as the disrespectful type. Somehow, that disrespectfulness reminded him of Ryoma in a way. Kevin couldn't figure out why she continually insulted Ryoma behind his back. He had thought this animosity could have stemmed from Ryoma treating her like dirt, or so she says. Or maybe she had romantic feelings for him, but refused to admit it. Not that Kevin would talk about that to her, as she had a big reaction when he mentioned it, and he thought she was the kind who wouldn't have any hesitations in trying to kill someone. She also seemed to view her reputation, at most, only at acknowledgement level.

He had also noticed that Ayame's tone had changed when she mentioned about losing to Ryoga when she was five. It almost sounded like as though she was holding back anger. Kevin then made the assumption that she was still angry about the loss, despite it happening over a half decade ago.

" _By the way, what is Ryoga Echizen like?_ " Kevin asked, curious about the supposed older brother that Ryoma never mentioned.

" _Back then, Ryoga was like a natural born leader…_ " Ayame began. " _He was so cool, brave, and strong. Although he liked to tease me and Ryoma a lot… And he's a lot more arrogant than Ryoma. He hasn't really changed after those six years of not seeing him. The only time I ever saw him scared was when he, Ryoma, and I got chased away by that fat lady neighbor's Dalmatian when we were stealing fruits from her yard. But I have to admit, he always got under my skin… and this makes me want to crush him so bad!_ "

As Ayame mentioned that last part, she suddenly looked as though she was about to strangle something while letting off a fiery aura.

 _Does she want to beat him in tennis or kill him by using tennis?_ Kevin wondered, sweat dropping at her sudden mood swing.

With Ayame's expression and her tone, Kevin deduced that she has never beaten Ryoga, which is why that is her goal. With Ryoga gone for at least six years, it would make sense that Ayame had not yet achieved her goal.

" _Anyway, I need to hit a little and make sure I'm not getting rusty…_ " Ayame said as she took out her racket and a ball, instantly reverting back to her normal self.

She headed to one of the courts and served the ball with a form that was oddly familiar. When the ball landed on the other side of the court, it came out to be a forward Twist Serve.

" _That just now looked exactly like Ryoma's Twist Serve,_ " Kevin pointed out. " _The form, the angle, and the sharpness are exactly the same. And earlier you said you can only do an imperfect version of Ryoma's moves._ "

" _OK, this one is an exception,_ " Ayame admitted. " _The Echizens just love to use Twist Serves, so they rubbed off on me. I never intended to learn it myself. It's just that I've seen it used so many times that I can use it just like they can._ "

 _And curse them for blindly teaching it to me…_ Ayame's thoughts finished.

Ayame then rallied against the wall until she hit the ball with so much force that when it bounced off the wall, it flew over the net at the court behind her. She Ninja Dashed to the other side of that court and returned the ball, only for it to hit the net. However, the ball had a spin that made it crawl along the net until it went over and fell to the other side of the court.

" _I'm decently good at manipulating the spin on a tennis ball…_ " Ayame said as she picked the ball up. " _And what you saw just now was the Wall Climber. I've not used it ever since that small rally I played with the Rikkaidai middle school's captain because I always had trouble getting the spin in. During that time, I knew I couldn't make it in over the net, so I gambled and tried to use the Wall Climber. It seemed to have work that time, but I've spent months trying to perfect it. I just can't seem to get it in, though…_ "

 _And if Inui-senpai were here, he would probably say that I have a 12% chance of succeeding it per attempt…_ Ayame mentally added.

Ayame then went back to rallying against the wall and began talking as she did so.

" _I will admit that I looked up to Ryoga when I was a little kid,_ " she started. " _But at the same time, I wanted to beat him at his own game. So naturally, it was tennis that I wanted to beat him at… That is my only drive for being a better player. Well, except for being rivals in tennis with Ryoma. But at the same time, we're helping each other reach our goals in tennis. He's chosen his, and I've chosen mine._ "

" _What does Ryoma want in tennis?_ " Kevin asked.

" _Unfortunately, that's between me and him,_ " Ayame answered. " _He made me swear not to tell anyone._ "

Eventually, Ayame halted the flow of her rally by catching the ball. " _Kevin. I want you to stand over there._ "

Kevin became confused. " _You want to play a match with me? But weren't you discharged a few hours ago?_ "

" _It's not a real match we're gonna play. I wanna see how you play. Fight me seriously. Give it all you got._ "

Kevin wasn't sure if Ayame was just being stupid or just being reckless. " _Are you sure…?_ "

" _Don't worry about it!_ " Ayame knew that he was worrying about her injury. " _It's just an ugly scar on my chest now! Now get over there already!_ "

Kevin became startled at her voice being commanding all of the sudden, so he ran to the other end of the court. Ayame took her position at the other end.

" _You serve,_ " she called over as she tossed the ball over the net to Kevin.

Kevin began serving the same way Ayame had when she began rallying against the wall. Knowing what was coming, Ayame rushed forward and stopped in front of the ball when it landed. She returned the Twist Serve with a rising shot. Kevin didn't react on time, as he was too busy being surprised at how easily Ayame countered the serve. He then served again, and the two rallied.

Ayame had not done anything yet, so Kevin decided to attack. He began sliding along the floor, and Ayame stopped and watched carefully. He then executed a Drive B, and Ayame reacted when she was able to determine the direction. She used a Ninja Dash and returned the ball with a rising shot right when it first bounced, nullifying Drive B.

 _Even though she wasn't discharged long ago, she can still run this fast?!_ Kevin thought in bewilderment.

Kevin had then remembered that Ayame told him that she had great speed and stamina, so naturally she would be skilled at pulling off rising shots. He didn't know how much stamina she had, but figured that if he stalled the rally, she wouldn't have enough energy to go on. And with her recently recovering from a stabbing, she probably wouldn't last as long as she normally would.

The two continued rallying and Kevin had watched in shock as Ayame easily countered all of his moves that he imitated from Ryoma. She even countered his Illusion the exact same way Ryoma did, although this was only because she was mimicking the way he countered it. Whenever he stopped attacking, she would start attacking with her Gemini or pressuring him with Kunoichi Zone, but other than that, she would go on the defensive whenever he started attacking. She would usually counter with a rising shot, and her rising shots were pretty damn fast.

" _Huh? That's all of Ryoma's moves you know?_ " Ayame asked, when nothing else she had been expecting came up. " _… Oh, right. I forgot. You never learned the Cyclone Smash, and you never saw him use his Drive C, COOL Drive, or Samurai Drive._ "

" _You've talked about those moves before… what do they look like exactly?_ " Kevin asked.

" _You should ask the idiot who made up those moves… I can only do a cheap imitation of them. And I hope you aren't fancying the idea of copying them as well. I already told you that you should play your own style of tennis._ "

 _Ayame knew what was coming from me because I'm playing Ryoma's style of tennis…_ Kevin thought. _Even though she was discharged not too long ago, that's why she was very confident about going up against me… She knows Ryoma's style of tennis too well and can easily counter me… I can't do a perfect recreation of Ryoma's style… Which is why she can easily defeat me even though she isn't at her best condition! And what she was saying earlier about copying Ryoma's style not helping me in the long run… If I stuck to copying Ryoma, I won't be able to evolve!_

" _…_ _If you had your own style, I would lose because I can't play at my fullest,_ " Ayame continued. " _But from the look on your face, I think you're finally understanding what I'm trying to tell you… I'll support you on your goal, but I won't help you ensure that you reach it. It's something you have to do for yourself. If you made a name like me and Ryoma, don't let it get to your head. It can lead you to be unprepared for the unexpected. Anyway, I better get going now. Thanks for taking the time out to hit with me a little. Good luck on besting that idiot._ "

And with that, Ayame walked out of the courts. Kevin then thought about Ayame's behavior. She was almost as disrespectful as Ryoma, she gave off nearly the same kind of confidence he did, she seemed nearly as reckless as him, and she was also quite blunt like him. Kevin also thought about her connection with the Echizens. It was easy to tell that she was very close with the family. She had met with them when she was five, and she was frequently at their house due to her father going to work nearly every day. Kevin then decided that she was probably deeply influenced by them, since her attitude was pretty reminiscent of Ryoma's as well as her passion for tennis.

* * *

Ryoma looked up when he heard the sound of the door opening. Ayame stepped in.

"Yo," she greeted.

"Hmm… So now they let you go," Ryoma remarked.

Ayame saw relief flicker across Ryoma's face for a split second before looking indifferent again. She had expected that to happen.

"Yeah. But I still shouldn't be overexerting myself too soon…" Ayame said.

"… But you look as though you just played a match," Ryoma pointed out, noting the sweat on her face.

"Oh, I hit a little with your no. 1 fanboy. He was still playing your style of tennis, minus a few of your moves. I told him to play me seriously, and it was still too easy to shoot him down."

"No. 1… fanboy…?" Ryoma was aware that he had fangirls (although he remained oblivious to that fact until Ayame complained to him about them pestering her), but a fanboy?

"Kevin Smith. Remember that guy?"

"Ah… The guy who copied me."

"Yeah, that guy. He mistook me for your girlfriend. He still doesn't know how to use your Cyclone Smash, Drive C, COOL Drive, or Samurai Drive. Mostly because he hasn't seen you use the last three. He wanted to see them, but I told him to go find you and ask, because I still have trouble using them."

Ryoma began to pity Kevin for making the mistake of thinking he and Ayame had a relationship, because that would result in a kick to the face. Ironically for him, Ayame had made no move to harm Kevin. If he were to have known that, it would've surprised him, because there had not been one moment where Ayame didn't go violent on someone who made the said mistake. Well, at least as far as he knew. After all, she wasn't the type who'd usually change unless she was involved in some sort of event that would cause her personality to shift in seismic proportions.

He pushed the pity aside to continue his conversation with Ayame. "… Mada mada dane."

Ayame felt a surge of irritation rise inside her. "You're one to talk! You can't even split my Gemini into ten balls yet! And you can't Ninja Dash nearly as fast as me!"

Ryoma didn't say another word. Ayame knew that he intentionally provoked her by taunting her, just to make her angry. She felt annoyed at how easy it was for him to get under her skin. Even if she came back with something to try to get back at him, he would always be undeterred, unless it was something relevant that humiliated him. But then again, there wasn't really anything she could hold over him right now.

Ayame cleared her throat. "Now that I'm back, I challenge you to another round of video gaming!"

Ryoma froze as soon as he heard that. He had been slacking off in his video gaming skills. He thought it would be fine to lay off of it since Ayame was being hospitalized. However, she had used that time to up her gaming skills since she was unable to go out running.

Ayame noticed Ryoma's hesitation. "C'mon, let's play a few rounds. Or are you too scared to face me now?"

Ryoma, falling for the provocative taunt, dug through his bag for his Gameboy Advance.

* * *

 **Yes, as Ryoma thinks, Ayame would have kicked Kevin for thinking that the two Japanese were in a romantic relationship. But I'll leave you to figure out why she didn't do it until I get that part explained in a future chapter. There's a hint that lies somewhere here.  
**


	43. Kiko and Dodo

**Chapter 43: Kiko and Dodo  
**

 _In the shade beneath the leaves of an oak tree, three young children sat in a triangle formation, facing each other. There were two boys and a girl. They were silent, waiting for one of them to speak up and say something. There was nothing except for the sound of the wind, blowing the leaves and making them sway. The girl's long black hair also swayed in the wind, blowing into her face._

 _"Well..." Ayame started, finally breaking the silence as she tied her messy hair into a ponytail. "That was horrible…"_

 _"Yeah..." Ryoma agreed._

 _"Hey, what do you guys think of this?" Ryoga asked. "I'll say what I think too."_

 _Ayame looked at Ryoma, who in turn looked at her. They weren't sure how to answer the older boy's question about their failed attempt to steal some apples from an apple tree that was a few houses away from theirs, and they had narrowly escaped getting caught. After the ice blue eyes and the golden hazel eyes stared at each other, the two grade schoolers decided to just say exactly what they thought._

 _"We were mada mada daze/dane/dayo!" Ryoga, Ryoma, and Ayame said simultaneously._ **(A/N: Yet another variation of mada mada dane. See the A/N at the bottom for explanation.)**

 _Upon hearing each other speak at the same time, the three kids simply stared at each other, dumbfounded. Shortly after, they recovered and burst out laughing._

* * *

"Mada mada daze!"

The voice brought Ayame out of her thoughts. She found herself near a tennis court with some high school boys. She looked inside and saw two of them rallying together, and the third one was sitting at a bench, watching them. That person was Ryoga.

"Ryoga!" Ayame called.

"Ah, Ay-chan!" Ryoga said in recognition as he spotted the girl.

Ayame rushed into the court and ran to Ryoga.

"Ryoga, you know her?" one of the boys asked as he stopped rallying with the other.

"Ah, yeah," Ryoga called back in response. "She was my next door neighbor who I used to play with all the time with Chibisuke, Kanna Ayame."

"They know Japanese?" Ayame asked, staring at the other two high school boys.

"Yeah," Ryoga answered. "Anyway, Ay-chan knows English, so you can speak to her in English!"

Ayame turned to the high school boys. " _My name is Ayame Kanna. Even though Ryoga already said my name, I'm telling you it in the American way so that you know which one's my first name._ "

" _I'm Dodo Obando,_ " one of the high schoolers introduced.

" _And I'm Kiko Balentein,_ " the other high schooler said. " _And you're Ryoga's friend that he talked about once._ "

" _Yeah,_ " Ayame said.

"Ryoga, you should tell us about her," Kiko said. "She's cute."

"You wanna know about Ay-chan?" Ryoga asked. "Okay then. Ay-chan loves RPGs, she listens to rock music, she likes to fight gangsters, and she likes ninjas."

"She fights gangsters...?" Dodo said dumbly.

"Yes," Ryoga said. "Oh, and she's going out with Chibisuke."

"What'd you say?!" Ayame gave Ryoga a glare that clearly said "you're-asking-for-it-buster."

She then jumped onto him and started kicking him. Kiko and Dodo simply stared in shock as they watched the young girl beat up their friend while shouting "Die!" over and over again.

" _I think I'm starting to see what Ryoga means by she likes to fight gangsters..._ " Kiko said nervously.

" _That means we can't take her lightly just because she's a girl..._ " Dodo said.

" _The way how he described her almost sounds like as if she's secretly a guy..._ " Kiko remarked.

" _So she's a tomboy... I think it shows the most when he said that she loves RPGs,_ " Dodo said.

It was sometime before Ayame stopped kicking Ryoga, and after giving Ayame a slight, angered lecture about taking a joke, Ryoga saw Dodo and Kiko's reactions.

"Ah, don't mind that," Ryoga said. "Ay-chan's always like this whenever she's angry. The only person she won't hurt is Chibisuke, even though he makes her angry a lot."

" _You get used to it if you spend maybe six years hanging out with a jerk like him..._ " Ayame said.

"Ryoga... you say that Ayame and your little brother are close friends, but the way how she's saying it makes it seem like it's not the case," Kiko said.

"Nah," Ryoga said. "Ay-chan always talks like this when it comes to Chibisuke. She has a bit of a love-hate relationship with him. She hates it when he's mean to her, but she gets used to it. Anyway, Ay-chan, how's Chibisuke?"

"Ryoma's doing fine," Ayame said, and then turned to look at Kiko and Dodo. "Are these guys good at tennis matches?"

"Ah, yeah," Ryoga answered. "They're training to be U-17 American representatives."

"Wow!" Ayame's eyes sparkled with awe. "Wish I could be something like that."

"Your target is still me, right?" Ryoga asked. "You're still mada mada daze."

"Asshole!" Ayame kicked Ryoga in the leg.

"Ay-chaaaaan..." Ryoga complained. "Don't kick me so hard every single time!"

"I'll do that if you're asking to die!" Ayame retorted.

" _Why do you play tennis, Ayame?_ " Kiko asked.

" _Because I want to play tennis with Ryoga and Ryoma!_ " Ayame answered enthusiastically. " _But they always go for the top, so I have to follow them if I want to play with them._ "

" _You seem to be pretty active,_ " Dodo remarked. " _Are there any other sports you like to play?_ "

" _Kickball,_ " Ayame answered. " _I also like to play soccer, but I'm horrible at dribbling._ "

" _Why?_ " Kiko asked.

" _Because I kick the ball too hard,_ " Ayame answered. " _It goes too far out in front of me. So I would just kick the ball across the whole field to the goal, but this only works assuming nobody's in the way. But whenever they are in the way and are too close when I kick the ball, they sit out of the rest of the game. But those're the only sports I can play. Anything that involves my arms are out of the picture._ "

" _… Ayame, your foot must be very strong if somebody has to sit out like that…_ " Kiko said nervously.

Ryoga sighed. He had told Kiko and Dodo that they could speak English with Ayame to make it more convenient for them, but it became an inconvenience for him. He still hasn't been able to learn English, and with that, he doesn't know what they're talking about and he doesn't know when to interrupt.

 _I should've asked Chibisuke and Ay-chan to teach me while I still had the chance..._ he thought.

Although Ryoga had lived in America for the majority of his life, he never bothered to learn English, and has been too lazy to even try to learn it. Not that he'd ever tell Ayame or Ryoma that. Or Kiko and Dodo.

" _Oh, yeah, your arms aren't very strong, are they?_ " Dodo asked.

" _Right,_ " Ayame confirmed. " _When I first learned tennis from Ryoga's dad, all I ever trained on were my legs. That's why my kicking hurts a lot. And since I neglected to train my arms, for a long while, they were weak. But I've been getting better._ "

Ayame took out her racket and a ball. " _Well, I'm gonna do some warming up._ "

She walked over to a court and began doing a self-rally.

"She's very fast," Kiko remarked. "You never said that, Ryoga."

"I've been wondering..." Dodo started. "Where did her violent side come from?"

"Ay-chan developed that side of her by herself," Ryoga answered. "I think it had to do with that accident that killed her mom."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kiko said.

"For whatever reason, Ay-chan hates it when people pity her about her loss, if they already know about it," Ryoga said. "Normally a person would hate to hear it at all, but for her, she hates it when people who know about it bring it up. Her dad told me that she was never violent before her mom died."

"So it's just her and her dad, huh..." Kiko said.

"Yeah," Ryoga said. "Back then, her dad would always go to work and drop her off at our house. She would have fun playing with me and Chibisuke while we all practiced tennis together. But we mostly stole from the other neighbors."

"So you guys were being naughty children?" Dodo asked.

"You can say that," Ryoga laughed. "I remember the first time Chibisuke and I tried to convince her to help us steal some stuff. At first she didn't wanna, because she thought it was wrong. But we eventually tricked her into doing it, and she actually enjoyed it, even though she knew it was wrong. And that first time changed her again."

"Changed her again...?" Kiko repeated.

"When I first met Ay-chan, she seemed unwilling to want to do anything other than tennis," Ryoga explained. "It was almost like as if she never had much emotion. She didn't talk a lot, but she talked a little bit more than Chibisuke, and when she did kick something, she would do it without saying anything. But after that first time she stole something, suddenly she started wanting to do a lot of things, and she still wants to do them now."

"Y'know, she looks very strong," Dodo remarked. "It's a shame she was born a girl. She has potential to be a good American representative."

"She was working really hard with Chibisuke," Ryoga said. "They hate to lose to each other. So they started playing matches and keeping count of how many wins they got from each other. They're still going at it, and none of them can get at least two more wins off each other. It's like as if they're playing a tiebreak..."

"So what's the score right now from what you can remember?" Kiko asked.

"I believe Ay-chan and Chibisuke each have 63 wins, 63 losses, and 44 ties," Ryoga said.

"Tie...?" Dodo was confused.

"They play so hard that sometimes they collapse at the same time when their score is evened out," Ryoga said. "And they can't get up right away, so the match becomes a tie. I think, by far, the highest tied score they had was 738-738 in a tiebreak."

"They play for that long?!" Kiko cried incredulously.

"I don't even know how myself," Ryoga shrugged. "I've never watched them play against each other. I just only hear about their win streaks from Ay-chan. But anyway, Ay-chan isn't a bad person. She just has some anger issues."

Ryoga then suddenly remembered about Ayame's injury, and realized that if it was still bad, she shouldn't even be running that fast. "Ay-chan, is your injury okay?!"

Ayame caught the ball to stop her rally and talk. "Yeah, it's all good now."

"She had an injury?" Dodo asked.

"Yeah… a pretty serious one," Ryoga answered. "She took a stab to the chest from a knife a few weeks back. It wasn't fatal, fortunately."

"Do you know what happened?" Kiko couldn't really imagine anyone stabbing a 12-year old girl.

"She got involved in another one of those crazy gang wars on the bad side of town," Ryoga began telling the story. "One of them drew out a knife and stabbed her. She was taken to the emergency room, and the injury didn't seem to do anything bad in the long run. At least I hope she's being honest on that part."

"You calling me a liar?!" Ayame glared at Ryoga.

"No, I'm just hoping that you aren't lying this time around so that you can get yourself in a worse condition," Ryoga answered.

Ayame then walked up to the three high schoolers.

"Ay-chan, have you gotten better since last time?" Ryoga asked.

"Yes," Ayame answered. "I won't lose next time! Also I learned a few new moves. But I'm not gonna show you. It'll ruin the surprise."

"Oh yeah, you told me within the first two weeks of grade school, everyone got scared of you. How long did it take for everyone to get scared of you back in Japan?" Ryoga asked.

"Within five days," Ayame answered. "Of course on first day, nobody suspected anything. But apparently Ryoma has some stupid fangirls, because they started bothering me on the third day when I started sitting with Ryoma during lunch breaks."

"Heh, so Chibisuke's got all the girls?" Ryoga asked, amused.

Ayame rolled her eyes at the thought. "Yeah… Again, like in grade school, I tried my best to ignore them and all that, but they were getting real annoying. I tried to explain that I was just an old friend of Ryoma's – it got even worse when they started bitching on me about calling Ryoma by his given name without an honorific – so they would go away and leave me alone, but it's either they're not listening or they don't believe me. On the fifth day, they tried to hurt me, so I beat them up, no questions asked. Maybe a third of the school saw it happen, because the news spread like wildfire. But the teachers wouldn't believe it was me, because they thought there was no way I could go up against like, I dunno, ten girls at once. I guess because since I was quiet for those five days, and I was already getting on the teachers' good sides, the last thing you'd expect is for me to be aggressive."

Ryoga remembered hearing that Ayame was more withdrawn from people after Houko was killed. He had assumed that it was a result from the trauma of the near-death experience of the car accident. He himself didn't know about the entire details of the accident, but knew that the car had hit a building.

Ayame looked up to see Kiko and Dodo's expressions. "No, don't get it wrong. I know it's wrong to beat people up, but in my situation, I think it's pretty reasonable. A bunch of girls won't leave me alone and listen to my explanation all because they have the wrong idea, and then finally they want to hurt me while ganging up on me. I just gave them the cold shoulder because they were insulting me, and the best way to respond to that is to ignore it. And then they got mad at me for ignoring them, so then they tried to hurt me. If they didn't want to get kicked into oblivion in the first place, all they had to do was leave me alone. And they never take hints, so if I have to be extreme about it, I will. They chose to pick a fight with me, and my actions were just self-defense."

"Y'know, Ay-chan, if you were able to fight a group of bullies in grade school, how come you didn't attack the neighbors every time we got busted?" Ryoga asked.

"I'd get in trouble from Dad," Ayame answered. "I think Rinko-san must've told him that the three of us… er, sometimes two of us, would rob fruit from the neighbors, because he knew about it even though I never told him. He never yelled at me for stealing, but said that I can't kick them."

Ayame held up her racket and pointed it at Ryoga. "Now, Ryoga, I want to see if I can finally win a game off of you!"

Ryoga smirked. "I hope so, because it'd be boring to play you every single time I know that you're mada mada daze!"

Kiko and Dodo watched with intense interest, wanting to see how Ayame would fare against Ryoga. Ryoga allowed Ayame to have the first serve, and she responded by hitting a reverse Twist Serve. Ryoga easily returned it, and Ayame ran up to the net and smashed the ball. Ryoga returned the ball before it could bounce twice.

" _Ayame's already attacking from the get-go,_ " Kiko remarked.

"Hmm? That's not like you, Ay-chan," Ryoga said. "Normally you're a defensive player, but it's strange to see you go all-out in attacking like this."

Ayame continually returned the balls away from Ryoga, who managed to catch up with them. Eventually, Ryoga began to notice that Ayame, after rushing back to the baseline some time ago, had not taken a step from where she was standing.

"You can use it too?!" Ryoga cried in shock.

"Funny, the last time I played against you, I never even considered using it," Ayame remarked as she swung her racket to return.

Ayame then lobbed the ball as high as she could, and Ryoga jumped up for a smash. As soon as the ball bounced in front of the net and gained some height, Ayame hit a smash. Ryoga was unable to fall back onto the ground on time to return the ball.

"15-0," Ayame announced, grinning in accomplishment that she finally scored.

"Not bad, Ay-chan," Ryoga said. "I never thought you would pull off a move like that."

Ayame served another reverse Twist Serve, and the two rallied again. She then began attacking with her offensive Gemini, as Ryoga managed to continually avoid the fluke balls while returning the ball. Eventually, Ryoga began swinging his racket with so much force that the wind caused by his racket neutralized the fluke balls, catching Ayame off-guard as the ball bounced past her.

"15-15," Ryoga announced.

 _So now he has a new way of countering my Gemini…_ Ayame thought.

When Ryoga lobbed the ball, Ayame jumped up and executed the weaker version of Ryoma's Cyclone Smash. Ryoga directly returned the smash. Ayame, sensing that was coming, as she made the assumption her strength wasn't enough, began spinning sideways in midair as the ball flew at her. She returned the ball with a sideways Cyclone Smash, catching Ryoga off-guard.

"30-15," Ayame announced as she landed on the ground.

"That was pretty good, Ay-chan," Ryoga remarked.

"Oh, believe me, that wasn't my idea," Ayame admitted. "I was blown away when Ryoma did that to me… Not literally blown away, though."

Ayame felt that she was being backed into a corner as the score went to 30-40.

" _This doesn't look good for Ayame,_ " Dodo remarked.

Ayame rallied while watching Ryoga intently. Ryoga began returning when he saw Ayame standing at the left side of the net, leaving her left open. He then returned in that direction, and as he did so, he noticed a second Ayame already standing at the spot where he was returning. Realizing that it was the Seal Step she used in their previous match, he reacted as Ayame returned in the direction away from him. Ayame then noticed about ten Ryogas on the other side of the court. She got surprised, causing her to lob in panic. Ryoga jumped up to smash, only for Ayame to return with another smash, not allowing him to have time to land on the ground.

"Deuce," Ayame announced.

 _She's been working on her lob…_ Ryoga thought. _I've got to remember to not smash…_

As the ball came to Ayame's side, she began spinning her body. Ryoga knew that it would add some more spin to the ball, and ran up to the ball as it landed. The ball bounced backward due to the spin, but Ryoga was able to return it. Ayame spun her body again, executing another Hensoku Drive, and Ryoga swung his racket low… but not low enough to reach the ball as it bounced again.

"Advantage, server," Ayame announced.

 _So she can control the height of that move…_ Ryoga thought.

Ayame used her Kunoichi Zone, trying to be cautious. However, she was not able to use it for long when Ryoga added a counter spin. Ayame, feeling increasing desperation inside of her, returned the ball too low, causing it to hit the net.

"Too bad, Ay-chan!" Ryoga taunted. "Mada mada daze!"

Before Ryoga could say another word, the ball rolled along the net and dropped over to his side. Shocked, he looked over to where Ayame was, and she had not changed her pose after returning the ball. She had a visible smirk on her face. Finally, she stood up straight and pointed her racket at Ryoga, radiating an aura of confidence.

"Mada mada dayo!" she taunted.

Ryoga grinned as he accepted his defeat. "You weren't bad this time, Ay-chan. But don't forget that this was only one game. You still haven't been able to defeat me in a match."

"I know," Ayame said. "But finally… I got to beat you at a game… After seven years…"

"Speaking of seven years, it's been a long time since I've last heard you shout "mada mada dayo" at all," Ryoga remarked.

"I stopped shouting that because it reminded me of you. You would yell "mada mada daze," Ryoma would yell "mada mada dane," and I would yell "mada mada dayo" whenever we got away with our thefts. I just happened to remember me yelling that a while ago, and I decided that I'm going to yell it once more when I manage to do something accomplishing."

Ayame had forgotten that Kiko and Dodo had been watching, and was reminded that they were there when they began applauding.

" _You did great, Ayame!_ " Kiko cheered. " _I knew you could do it!_ "

Ayame packed away her tennis bag and picked it up. " _Well, I'll be off._ "

Ryoga frowned. "What is she saying?"

"Ayame said she's leaving," Dodo replied.

The three high schoolers watched as Ayame left the courts.

"Ryoga, are you sure Ayame is going to be alright going alone like that?" Kiko asked. "You did say she was stabbed once."

"Nah, don't worry about Ay-chan," Ryoga said as he took out an orange. "She promised to stay out of trouble this time."

"Next time you should introduce your little brother to us," Kiko said.

"Sorry, I don't know where Ay-chan and Chibisuke are staying at," Ryoga said. "Sometime ago they went back to Japan and then came back here. I don't know where they're staying."

Unknownst to Ryoga, Ayame and Ryoma were staying in the exact same room in the exact same hotel. Nobody had rented the room during the period the freshman duo temporarily returned to Japan to cure Ryoma's amnesia, so they went back to the same room when they returned to America.

"So you say that Ayame is on equal strength with your little brother…" Dodo remarked. "And she's already shown to have the skills to be a U-17 American representative. It's a real shame that she's not a boy. Maybe you should get your little brother to join us later, if you can."

"Good idea," Ryoga remarked. "Ay-chan is used to these boys-only rules, so she won't feel that sore about not being able to become one. Even if she tried to disguise herself, it would be very hard, because her long hair would be hard to hide. But if we manage to get Chibisuke, it's a high chance that Ay-chan would want to tag along and watch."

* * *

 **I've been taken to learning a little Japanese. To clear things up, the way how the phrase is really spelled is "madamada da ne." Yes, we've all been spelling it wrong, but it's already stuck with the community, so I've been intentionally spelling it wrong like that (although it bugs me a little sometimes). "Madamada" is indeed one word, and it means something along the lines of "not yet" or "still more to work on." The "da" means "be" or "is," which gives it the part where Ryoma tells somebody that they're "madamada." And finally, "ne" is just for emphasis, which is why it is possible to have different variations. Ayame's use of "madamada da yo" is literally the same thing as Ryoma's "madamada da ne," as "yo" is also for emphasis. "Madamada da na" is also emphasis. "Madamada da ze" is a bit different. "Ze" is used for command or force, and usually only males use it (suggesting that Ryoga is using the phrase in high confidence). And incidentally, "zo" is the same thing as "ze," so you can have a variation with "zo" at the end.  
**

 **And so, now you know how "mada mada dane" is really spelled as, as well as how you can make different variations with it. It's up to you whether you want to spell it right the next time you write it, or go with what the community got stuck writing it as.**

 **Ryoga returning the Cyclone Smash directly, following it with Ayame returning it with a sideways Cyclone Smash is a reference to the same scene with Ryoma in the "The Two Samurai, The First Game" movie.**


	44. Doubles Grinding

**Sorry, I haven't touched this for over a month. I've been busy with summer work as well as a side project I've been wanting to get started on. Once I get the project started, I'll shift my focus back on this fanfic a little more.**

* * *

 **Chapter 44: Doubles Grinding  
**

 _"Kikumaru-senpai!" Ayame called as the third year walked by._

 _"Eh? Ayame-chan? What is it?" Kikumaru asked as he stopped to talk to her._

 _"Are you free after club activities?"_

 _"Yes. Why do you ask?"_

 _"Do you mind coming with me afterward? I want you to show me how you really play doubles."_

 _"Ah, I see! So you want to learn how to play doubles."_

 _"Yes."_

 _"Sure, I'll help you!"_

 _"Arigatou gozaimasu." Ayame bowed._

 _Ayame sighed._

 _"What's wrong?" Kikumaru asked._

 _"Ryoma wants me to learn how to make chawanmushi," Ayame answered. "It's so that he could eat it. Lately I've been going to his house to learn how to cook from his cousin, and since I've been learning to make some Japanese food, he wants me to learn how to make chawanmushi. I always knew he really likes Ponta, but I never imagined that he likes food that much. I thought he never cared."_

 _"You remind me of that time I wanted him to sing."_

 _Ayame's eyes narrowed. "Sing?"_

 _"I wanted him to sing cutely and cheerfully, but he wouldn't do it. Not until I offered him to all-you-can-eat at Kawamura Sushi and some chawanmushi."_

 _"He actually did it?"_

 _"Yeah, it was the best! Except he fell asleep at the end."_

 _Ayame's eyes widened as she processed what she heard. The part about Ryoma falling asleep at the end is pretty typical of him, but singing cutely and cheerfully… That was a little… She couldn't even imagine him singing in a high-pitched voice at all, and she had difficulty describing what she thought about what she just heard. All she can think for sure was that it didn't suit him at all._

 _"Ryoma always sounds like he's always bored, though. How does he even sing like that?" Ayame asked._

 _"I think it might have been because he was using Muga no Kyouchi…" Kikumaru said while going into a deep thought._

Well, okay, that explains everything… _Ayame thought._ But it's the works of Muga no Kyouchi. It's always been a weird phenomenon that could also be used outside of tennis...

 _"Ah, we're here," Kikumaru said as the two stopped in front of the steps to the street tennis courts._

* * *

Ayame stared down at the pages of the Doubles for Beginners book that she had taken out of Ryoma's bag. She was sitting on a park bench, reading it. Nearby, behind the bench, was Ryoma, lying under a tree, napping. The two freshmen had been taking a walk together until Ayame noticed that Ryoma was tired, so she offered to keep watch around him while he slept under the tree.

She had taken the Doubles for Beginners book, as she had decided that she will attempt to accomplish a challenge that might end with Ryoma being uncooperative throughout: teach him doubles. Before returning to America, she had asked Kikumaru to teach her doubles, which the senior happily did. She asked after noticing the book in Ryoma's bag, and wondered why he still carried it around and still be crappy at doubles. After hearing a brief story from Kikumaru about Ryoma's rather humiliating, unsuccessful attempt at doubles, Ayame realized that he was simply too lazy to remove it from his bag, so she decided to teach him doubles to save him from further humiliation if he was forced to play doubles. Before she did so, she decided to read the book to see what it has to say about doubles.

After she finished looking through the said book, she took out an English mystery novel that was in her bag. She would normally read a horror novel, but whenever she did, she would be jumpier and would respond violently to loud noises around her. The last time that occurred was when she was at Ryoma's house back in Tokyo. She had been reading a horror novel at the dining table, and Ryoma, who had been sleeping up until then and had not been expecting her, had been surprised to see her at his house, causing him to cry out her name in surprise. This in turn caused her to jump in fright, hit her bruised knee under the table (her knee got bruised when she banged it under a table at the burger shop she normally followed Ryoma and Momo to), and make her get into a world of hurt for a few seconds.

She had spent a long while reading until Ryoma began to stir.

"Did you have a nice dream?" Ayame asked without looking away from her book.

"Who are you...?" Ryoma asked drowsily as he lifted his head up.

Ayame nearly dropped her book in surprise. "Can you wake up already? It's me, the Kanna girl who lived next door to your American house and the one your father taught tennis to."

Ryoma did not reply to her annoyed response as he yawned and reached for his cap lying next to him, and instead asked her a question. "How long have I been asleep?"

"About an hour and fifteen minutes," Ayame answered as she glanced at her watch.

She stuck a bookmark in her book, closed it, packed it away, and stood up. "Ryoma, come with me."

Ryoma grabbed his bag and followed Ayame. He noticed that she was tying her hair back, and suspected that she was taking him to a tennis court, and he was correct. Without a word, Ayame walked onto one side of the court.

"You want to play a match?" Ryoma asked.

"No, it's not a match," Ayame said. "It's about something else. Mainly about the Samurai Zone that you once used."

"… Ah, you mean the one that I used to beat Atobe-san..."

"It's still "mada mada" right now. I'm gonna have you work on it until you can do it at around my level at least."

"… Fine."

"You have to promise me that you'll see through this to the end, okay?"

"Sure."

Ayame then tossed the ball and served. "I want you to hit only Samurai Zone balls."

Ryoma returned the ball, and when Ayame returned it, she noticed that the ball clearly curved, but it wasn't directly back to Ryoma.

"Put some more spin into it!" Ayame shouted.

As they kept rallying, Ryoma noticed that Ayame was continually pressuring him into putting in the right amount of spin to do a perfect Zone.

 _She has her own intentions for making me perfect this..._ Ryoma thought. _She's usually never this pushy unless she has another motive..._

He wanted to ask her why she was trying so hard to get him to polish his Samurai Zone, but knew that asking would be pointless because she would respond by pressuring him more.

After some thirty minutes of getting verbally harassed, Ryoma finally managed to do a perfect Samurai Zone without fail.

"Good," Ayame said.

"Why did you want me to do it correctly so badly?" Ryoma finally asked.

"Ah, you figured out that I had a reason for you to learn it?"

"… Yeah. So... why?"

"I want you to learn how to use your Samurai Zone effectively in doubles."

Ryoma stopped dead. _Did she say doubles?_

Ayame noticed his reaction. "I know you hate doubles, but I heard about the time you first played doubles from Kikumaru-senpai."

Ryoma sighed. _Did he really have to tell her about that?_

"Sorry, but you can't back out of this one," Ayame continued. "You promised to see through this to the end."

 _She tricked me!_ Ryoma thought in irritation, but otherwise resigned to his fate.

"Being a singles player, it's natural instincts to run straight for the ball," Ayame began. "So to avoid running into your doubles partner, you can use your Samurai Zone to gravitate the ball to you instead. Though you may have to give them advance warning that you'll be using the Zone, or they'll be awkwardly chasing after a curving ball that is gonna fly towards you. And if you have a crappy doubles partner, you can carry them by using your Zone and taking all the shots."

"Hm..."

"Oh, and if you're super pro at using your Zone, you can redirect balls towards your partner to set up a shot. All that said, let's practice on that now."

"How are we going to practice if we don't have another pair to play against?"

"I'll be your partner and the opposing pair."

"... Don't tell me you're going to..."

Another Ayame appeared. "Yes. Seal Step. But since I'm using it, I'll run out of stamina much faster than normal, so master it quick."

Ryoma felt that it was very weird to be playing with the exact same three people at once, but if it really did feel like doubles, then it'll have to be weird that way. He then realized that Ayame would be exerting herself to create two extra clones of her, so he really would have to learn fast. He decided not to bring it up to her for several reasons. First, she was willingly sacrificing her stamina to help him improve in doubles. Second, she was very prideful of her stamina, and would take his notice as an insult. Third, since she was very insistent on his improvement in doubles (she could be as stubborn as hell like him), she would not stop even if somebody tried to stop her. But what really made him wonder was how fast she would be able to run if she can make two clones with that much distance apart from herself.

The two played their doubles simulation, with Ayame not using her moves other than the Seal Step. Ryoma's control to apply for doubles was imperfect, but still enough to be considered something, or so Ayame would put it. But she still firmly believed that Ryoma needed more work in doubles in general. About ten minutes into their practice, Ryoma noticed that Ayame was already beginning to sweat hard and slow down slightly.

After fifteen minutes passed in total, both Ayame clones on the other side of the court vanished, and the one on Ryoma's side collapsed.

 _She's reached her limit already..._ he thought.

"S... Sorry..." Ayame gasped as she kept panting.

"You shouldn't have pushed yourself so hard," Ryoma said.

"As if... you never did...!" Ayame managed to retort.

Ayame pushed herself up shakily and staggered to where she left her bag. She put away her racket and tried to lift up her bag, but she couldn't move it an inch off the ground. Ryoma watched as she started dragging her bag along the ground. After she fell from exhaustion, he picked up her bag.

"Hey, let's go," Ryoma said to her as she stood back up.

It ended up with Ryoma having to support Ayame and carry both bags as they walked out of the courts.

"You may have perfected your Samurai Zone, but applying it to doubles is still "mada mada," you know," Ayame said. "Maybe if you get good, we can actually be a good doubles pair."

Ryoma remained silent, as his mind was solely focused on trying to bear with the weight on him. The two friends walked back to their room, where Ayame collapsed into a chair the instant she was in the room. Ryoma took out a Spark energy drink he had on him and handed it to her.

" _Thanks,_ " Ayame said as she took the drink.

The two did not say a word for a while as they went about their business inside the room. After some ten minutes of silence, Ayame broke it by speaking first.

"Oi," she started. "Tomorrow we're gonna work on that Zone some more."

"Don't decide things for yourself..." Ryoma muttered.

"Hey, you said you were gonna see it through to the end. So I get to decide it."

* * *

 _"Nii-chan, let's go back," Ryoma urged._

 _"You're both scared already?" Ryoga asked._

 _"We've been walking too far," Ayame complained. "Dad's going to get worried about me."_

 _"Fine," Ryoga sighed. "We'll go back."_

 _The trio made their way back to their homes… only to end up in a place they didn't know._

 _"Nii-chan, are you sure you know where you're going?" Ryoma asked anxiously._

 _"I… Yes, of course I do," Ryoga said, not realizing that he's not hiding the uncertainty in his voice._

 _Ryoga knew that the three were lost, and he knew that he can't admit that to the two younger children. If they knew, the two would panic._

 _Ayame heard the uncertainty in his voice, but dismissed it. The three continued walking, with Ryoga pretending that he knew where was where._

 _"I don't recognize this place," Ayame remarked uneasily. "Are we getting closer or are we getting farther away?"_

 _Ryoga was about to open his mouth when a car on the street pulled over next to them. Ryoma hid behind Ryoga, peering out cautiously from behind him._

 _"_ Are you kids lost? _" the man driving the car asked._

 _Ryoma quietly translated to Ryoga._

 _"_ No, we are not, _" Ayame answered._

 _Ayame didn't trust strangers, so she lied. Ryoma translated to Ryoga._

 _"Ay-chan, Chibisuke, we need to get away right now," Ryoga said in a low voice._

 _"I know," Ayame replied, also in a low voice._

 _"When I count to three, start running," Ryoga ordered quietly._

 _"_ Are you sure? _" the man continued, not hearing the short conversation between Ayame and Ryoga._

 _"Ichi," Ryoga started._

 _"_ I am sure! _" Ayame replied adamantly. "_ We know our way home! _"_

 _"Ni," Ryoga continued._

 _"_ Well, then, why don't you get in the car so you don't have to walk there? _" the man suggested._

 _"San!" Ryoga shouted._

 _And with that, the three kids began running down the sidewalk in an attempt to get away. The man sped on his car to chase after them._

 _"Ay-chan, I need your help!" Ryoga said. "I need you to find a tree that you can hide in and hit the bad guy when he gets close to me and Chibisuke! Chibisuke, pretend that we're out of breath when I tell you to stop!"_

 _"I got it," Ayame said._

 _"Chibisuke, after Ay-chan makes the first attack, we'll go all-out," Ryoga said to Ryoma._

 _Ayame kept running with the boys until she saw a tree. She stuck her foot out to brake, and then executed a Ninja Dash to get behind the tree. She scaled it to one of the branches and stood still as she heard Ryoga and Ryoma stop, pretending that they're panting. Tennis ball and racket in hand, she listened from the distance as the man got out of the car and ran towards the two boys. She tossed the ball and served it through the leaves hiding her. A cry of pain from the man told her that she managed to hit her target._

 _The two boys took out some tennis balls and began serving them at the man. Ayame climbed down the tree and joined in with her racket. Soon, the three children managed to force the man into unconsciousness._

 _"Mada mada daze!" Ryoga shouted, pointing his racket._

 _"Mada mada dane/dayo!" Ryoma and Ayame said simultaneously, imitating Ryoga's pose._

 _It was then the trio heard the sounds of a police car siren in the distance, and it was getting closer. They saw the police cars come close to them and they pulled over next to the three. When the police got out of their cars, they were astonished to see an unconscious man lying near three young children carrying tennis rackets, and the police assumed that they were the reported lost children._

* * *

Ayame stared out the window as she recalled the memory. She and the boys were reprimanded by the Echizens and her father for wandering out of the neighborhood by themselves, but they were otherwise relieved to see that the kids were unharmed. The police did not believe the children when they said that they "fought a battle and won" against the man that they found unconscious, but Nanjiroh and Rinko knew better. They knew that from what the children said, the man attempted to hurt or kidnap one of them, and they fought back in self-defense with their tennis rackets. With that, Ryoga, Ryoma, and Ayame were forbidden to leave the neighborhood, but they were allowed to wander around in it as long as the three were together and carrying a tennis racket and some tennis balls.

The three children were warned about talking with strangers, so they had their guard up when the man pulled over. However, when Ryoga began planning out what to do next, the three perceived the situation to be a game rather than an attempted kidnap. Looking back at it, Ayame had realized how serious the situation was supposed to be, because back then, she didn't know it was a kidnapping attempt. She had been following what she had been told to do: never go with a stranger.

Ayame glanced over at Ryoma, who was still sound asleep. He probably doesn't remember the incident. Ayame wondered what Ryoma would think about it now, if he remembers. She thought that it would be a pain in the ass to try to have him recall it, so she decided that she wouldn't bother trying. She knew that Ryoga genuinely thought it was fun because he was the reckless type. He would think the whole situation would be fun assuming that she doesn't miss the man, though he would probably be scared had she actually missed. However, after Nanjiroh found out that she had trained most of her five senses for her usual thefts she goes on with his two sons, he trained her on using those senses in tennis, so Ryoga believed in her to land that shot, with only her sight being restricted.

Now that she thought about the incident, Ayame thought that Ryoga's commands were vaguely familiar. It then hit her: it was very similar to how they pulled off most of their thefts. The Echizen boys were the distraction by taking on the opposition like courageous warriors while she was behind the scene doing her role like a silent ninja. In their thefts, Ryoma and Ryoga would confront the neighbors and to give Ayame an opening to snatch the items they were planning to steal. In the attempted kidnapping, the boys pretended to be tired of running to let the man's guard down, giving Ayame an opening to attack him with her tennis ball.

As Ayame read her novel in front of her, she shivered. _Has it already been three months since Seigaku won the Nationals…? And now it's fixing to be four… It's already getting cold here… and then it'll be cold as hell once winter kicks in…_

She heard Ryoma stir.

"Oi," she started without looking up from her book. "Go and get changed already. We're gonna go start now."

"Hai, hai..." Ryoma grumbled drowsily as he got up.

Ayame waited until Ryoma was ready before the two left to go to the nearest tennis court. Without a word, Ayame used the Seal Step to make two clones of herself as she and Ryoma got into position. Again, Ayame lasted only fifteen minutes before collapsing. Ryoma ended up helping her back to their room each time.

* * *

"You don't have to do this, you know," Ryoma said on the fourth day after Ayame had collapsed.

"But... I want to...!" Ayame persisted.

Ryoma sighed. "Why did I agree to this again...?"

"Because... your doubles play is... bad. I'm doing... this for you. You should at least... be grateful I am... Even though... you are a bastard..."

Ryoma sighed again. He hated this. He never wanted to learn doubles after that humiliating experience. But he promised Ayame to go through with it, so he couldn't break it, even if she did trick him.

"I know... you don't wanna... but... what if... you have to... play doubles...?" Ayame forced her words out.

Ryoma paused. Ayame had a good point there. But then again, where would he find himself in a situation to play doubles anyway? Either way, he figured that he would have to just put up with Ayame, because she won't stop. This is going to be a long one...

* * *

It wasn't until the tenth day when Ayame's clones on the other side of the court suddenly disappeared in the middle of a rally.

"I think you finally got it," Ayame said as she walked to the bench and took out a water bottle from her bag.

"So that means we're done with this?" Ryoma asked.

"Un."

Ayame gulped down her water and hurled the empty plastic bottle to the nearest trash can. "Good work today."

Ryoma mentally sighed in relief. Finally this annoyingly boring training was over. He watched as Ayame packed away her racket and began walking out of the courts.

"See you later on tonight," she said as she got out of his hearing range.

Ayame walked several feet away when she paused. _Wait… Did I teach him to play doubles or teach him to play doubles with me?_


	45. Ayame, Kevin, and Ryoma

**Oh man, these past few months have been crazy for me, so all of my activity has been halted for a real long time. Since I've had a long period of inactivity, this one will be kinda long, so I hope that makes up for it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 45: Ayame, Kevin, and Ryoma**

" _Is that all you've got?_ " Ayame taunted as she returned the ball. _Please don't tell me that's all you've got…_

" _Don't underestimate me!_ " Kevin shouted in irritation as he ran to the ball.

When Kevin returned the ball, Ayame prepared to use Gemini. She launched ten fluke balls at Kevin, who avoided them by bending his body back to avoid the balls. While he was doing so, he swung his racket and the center made contact with the ball, successfully returning it. Ayame stopped in surprise, but snapped out of her trance quickly as she Ninja Dashed to catch up to the ball.

" _Bravo,_ " she said. " _You've finally managed to counter that style of Gemini. But still… It is a gazillion years too early for you to oppose me._ "

As though she was proving her point, Ayame then lobbed the ball as high as she could make it go, and then Kevin jumped up to smash. Ayame reacted as soon as the ball was smashed, as it landed by the net, and she dashed up to the net and smashed the ball to return it to the other side. It bounced twice before Kevin could land.

 _She wanted me to hit that smash!_ Kevin realized.

 _Looking at him, there's this one technique I've always wanted to try…_ Ayame thought.

Ayame served, and the two rallied. Eventually she managed to have Kevin return to her right, as she put a high speed right spin on the ball. Kevin ran to it to return with a backhand… only to see that the ball vanished, and the next instant, it bounced off somewhere in an entirely different location. In Ayame's view, however, the ball looked as though it just rebounded far away from Kevin.

 _OK, that wasn't as hard as I thought it was…_ Ayame thought as she stared at her racket. _Or maybe Kirihara-san is just not as fast at mastering spin._

" _What was that just now?!_ " Kevin called.

" _That's called Phantom Ball,_ " Ayame replied. " _It's not my technique, so I won't be using it. I just wanted to see if I could do it. It was created by a friend of mine. Even though I'm not left-handed, I helped him perfect it._ "

 _While making myself look like a great fool…_ Ayame mentally finished, recalling how she used left-handed instincts when she was really right-handed. _But maybe I should use it every once in a while to mess with Ryoma in a match…_

The two went back to rallying, and Ayame hit the ball into the net. It shot straight up into the air and back down on her side, causing her to sigh. Although she said nothing, Kevin knew what she was trying to use, based on her stance and the way she hit the ball, and remembered that she said she had trouble perfecting the move. She had told him that she needed to put the right amount of spin, because putting too much or too little each have consequences. Too much spin will cause the ball to fly too high up, and it can possibly miss the net (Ayame disliked using moves that has a risk of failing in an actual match). Too little spin won't allow it to roll up to the top of the net.

When Ayame served next, she hit a reverse Twist Serve, catching Kevin by surprise.

" _What was that Twist Serve?!_ " he exclaimed.

" _That's something I learned from watching Ryoga,_ " Ayame replied. " _I technically made it up, but sort of didn't at the same time. More specifically… I had the idea for it, and Ryoga was the one who carried it out… even though I didn't mean it._ "

" _What do you mean by that?_ "

Ayame recalled the time as she told Kevin the story…

* * *

 _"Do you know what one problem with the Twist Serve is?" Ryoga asked, looking at the two younger children._

 _"It hits people in the face and hurts them?" Ayame answered, with uncertainty in her voice._

 _"No, that's not it… It's that it's always aimed at the face so you know where it's coming," Ryoga corrected._

 _"So… you're saying that we need to fix that problem?" Ryoma asked._

 _"Right," Ryoga said. "Or else it'd make Twist Serves pointless against each other. Let's put our heads together and figure something out."_

Do I really have to do it with them? _Ayame groaned._ I don't know how to use the Twist and I don't care much for it… But since Ryoga's saying we should, I guess I have no choice.

 _"How are we going to solve a problem like that?" Ayame asked. "What are we going to do? Make it bounce the wrong way?"_

 _"Yeah, we should make it bounce the wrong way!" Ryoga exclaimed enthusiastically, picking up his blue racket and rushing to one side of the tennis court._

 _"Nii-chan, are you really going to try to make it bounce the wrong way?" Ryoma asked._

 _"Yes, Chibisuke, I will try," Ryoga replied._

 _"… But I was just kidding, though…" Ayame muttered, in slight disbelief that Ryoga bought her words._

 _"Maybe something like this…" Ryoga tossed the ball in the air and served._

 _The ball landed on the other side of the court and bounced like a Twist, except backwards, to Ayame and Ryoma's amazement._

 _"Wow, Nii-chan!" Ryoma looked excited and awed. "How did you do that?!"_

Such a Twist Serve existed?! _Ayame could only gape in shock._

 _"Ay-chan, you can stop giving me that dumb look now," Ryoga called to her._

 _"Huh?! O-oh…" Ayame snapped out of her trance._

* * *

" _… In short, something I said that was meant to be a joke turned into reality,_ " Ayame finished. " _That was the last thing I expected to happen. But I should've known it could, because, well, it's Ryoga we're talking about here. He does some bizarre things that makes the impossible possible… at least back then._ "

 _Does she really believe that?_ Kevin sweat dropped.

The two continued to rally until they stopped for a break.

" _So how's Ryoma?_ " Kevin asked.

 _Oh, why do I even bother? The topic of Ryoma follows me around wherever I go…_ Ayame sighed. " _He's doing fine._ "

" _Do you know what he's been up to lately?_ "

" _No. All I know is that he walks a lot and buys a lot of Spark drinks._ "

" _He likes Spark?_ "

" _Yeah. It's his replacement for Ponta… which is, I guess you would call Fanta here in America._ "

" _Do you know what he's doing right now?_ "

" _Judging by the hour, I'm assuming that he's still sleeping. Sorry if you wanted to play a match with him._ "

" _No, I didn't want to… yet. But you think he's still sleeping? Isn't it kind of late in the morning now?_ "

" _Don't ask me, ask him! In fact, I'm not the one who oversleeps! He is!_ " Ayame looked as though she was about to slap something for a while there before she had her normal expression back. " _It's an Echizen trait to have bad sleeping habits, although Ryoga seemed to have control over it. But more than anything, it's a minor annoyance and a crisis... in a way._ "

Kevin was surprised at the sudden annoyed face Ayame showed. He had asked her quite a bit about Ryoma the last time he was with her, which she answered normally, but this time, she got annoyed. Although he thought it was a bit weird that she was annoyed for one second, and then she acted normally in the next second. In America and Japan, Ayame was pestered by many people who wanted to know more about Ryoma, as she was the only "reliable" source to knowing more about him. She was aware that he was famous among the tennis world, but was clearly not expecting to get involved in it one way or another. She kept her frustration and irritation to herself most of the time, but now it has pushed to the point where those feelings always surfaced whenever she was asked something about Ryoma that she had no answer to (usually responding with "How'm I supposed to know?!" or "Don't ask me, ask him!"). Although if it was something that befuddled her immensely, she would express confusion and curiosity instead.

" _I get minor annoyance, but why a crisis?_ " Kevin asked, wondering if Ayame was exaggerating.

" _According to his teammates, Ryoma is always late for morning practice,_ " Ayame explained. " _That's the minor annoyance part. He was late for some of their tournaments. That's the crisis part. But those tournaments… All the members in his grade level make a huge racket whenever he plays. It's like they think he's a God or something._ "

" _You get annoyed by it, don't you?_ "

" _Yes. Because they hurt my ears half the time. When Ryoma wins one game off the bat, they think he's got the match in the bag. But we both know better than to judge at first glance. Whenever he's in any sign of trouble, they freak out and think he's gone to the blast radius of disaster_ _and is gonna lose. Considering how this has gone on for months now, they should've learned by now, but apparently they did not. Like on his first match in Japan's Nationals tournament, he was up against this guy who can hit this powerful serve…_ "

* * *

 _"It's probably none of my business, but shouldn't you go on a diet?" Ryoma asked._

 _In response, Tanishi grabbed him by his shirt. "You wanna die?!"_

 _Ayame gripped the fence while fighting every instinct to jump down and help Ryoma. As much as she wanted to use force to protect Ryoma, she knew that it would land the Seigaku team in trouble and most likely ban them from the tournament. On the other hand, the same would apply to Higa if Tanishi were to hurt Ryoma, but she didn't want Ryoma to be hurt. She was relieved when no violence broke out, and the match began._

 _She slumped down on the fence next to the Freshman Trio as Ryoma prepared to serve. She watched as Ryoma hit a Twist Serve, but Tanishi used the Carioca Step to be able to return it._

Too bad, bastard, _she thought._ It seems like this guy doesn't have to go on a diet like you said.

 _"Ryoma-kun's Twist Serve was returned?!" Kachirou and Katsuo shouted in surprise, forcing Ayame to clap her hands over her ears._

 _Ryoma reacted and returned the ball. It rolled along the ground in a "C" path._

Oh? _Ayame thought._ That's his new drive he was talking about? I didn't think he mastered it enough to use his right for it. But… something's a bit off…

 _"What was that just now?" Kikumaru asked._

 _"I'm not sure, but it's probably… the COOL Drive," Ayame said._

 _"COOL Drive?" Momo asked._

 _"I dunno," Ayame replied. "Ryoma was talking to me about developing the move before this tournament started. He told me how it would work, but when I envisioned it, I thought it would be stronger. Maybe it's because he's using his right hand."_

 _Ryoma hit more of the drives, bringing the score up to 40-0._

 _"There must be a way to return it! The COOL Drive isn't a big deal!" Tanishi shouted, apparently having heard what Ayame was talking about._

 _"Ne," Ryoma started. "Don't get it wrong. All those shots were Drive Cs. It has half of the rotation and spin of COOL Drive."_

 _"I thought something was off," Ayame remarked. "I doubted that it would take him such a short time to master such a complex move with his right hand."_

 _"So you didn't know that it wasn't a COOL Drive, Kanna?" Horio asked._

 _"Just because I know about the move doesn't mean I've seen it," Ayame replied. "I just theorized and envisioned how the move would look like when Ryoma described to me the mechanism behind it. I just thought that the drives he's been pulling off were a bit… too weak. If it had gone out the way I imagined it to be, it would be spinning more violently and going in a much more curved path along the ground."_

 _"I'll show you the real COOL Drive," Ryoma said as he switched to his left hand._

 _Tanishi's eyes widened. "He's a lefty?!"_

 _"That brat is left-handed?!" many of the Higa students cried._

Oh my gosh, he's actually left-handed, it's like the greatest thing I've EVER seen! _Ayame thought with exaggerated sarcasm._

 _Ryoma then held serve by fooling Tanishi when he did a drop shot rather than the COOL Drive._

 _"Game, Echizen! 1-0!"_

 _Ayame heard Seigaku cheering around her as many of the club members believed that Ryoma had this match as good as won.  
_

Haven't these fools learned that you can't judge by one game alone?! _Ayame thought._ Someone save me. Please.

 _When she looked over at the other side where the rest of Higa were, she saw that the regulars were looking relaxed. She listened carefully in an attempt to hear anything that they were talking about._

 _"Kei-kun still has that," Ayame heard Kite say._

 _Ayame focused her attention back down to Tanishi, who was ready to serve. When he did, he leaped up after tossing the ball. Ayame leaned closer over the fence to observe this movement. Tanishi then hit the ball, and it sped quickly over the net. Ryoma attempted to return the serve, but was unsuccessful as his racket was knocked out of his hand._

 _"One-hit killer serve: Big Bang," Tanishi announced._

Why did I not expect something like that?! _Ayame felt like as though she had just went back to square one in tennis._ Of course someone as big as him would have a move like that!

 _Ayame watched as Ryoma failed to return the Big Bang for the rest of the game, although she had to commend him for not getting his racket blown away when he attempted to return it with Drive B. Standing up straight and putting her hand to her chin, she took in everything she knew._

Ryoma's good, but he can't handle a Big Bang. But it's that fat guy's only way of winning games off of Ryoma… I think. He's not using anything other than Big Bang, so most likely it's gotta be his only way. If they keep holding serves, the match will go into a stalemate… but what would happen if it was kept up like that? The one who drops first will lose… But I don't know who has more stamina. But… if that fat guy keeps hitting Big Bangs throughout the whole match, it'll add strain to his arm and it won't be as powerful each hit… That means…! If Ryoma can hold out his serves and last a long while, he can probably at least be able to return Big Bang at some point! If it's in a tiebreak, which is what the match is coming to, then that bastard will win! … Well, of course only if that fat guy uses only Big Bang to win games off of Ryoma.

 _When her mind finally reached a conclusion, Ayame leaned back down on the fence and watched. She felt satisfaction when she noticed that Tanishi was not using anything other than the Big Bang. As the match dragged on with both players holding serve, Ayame noticed that Ryoma's racket has been getting blown away the exact same way all this time. It was like the power of Big Bang didn't drop._

Is one of my considerations... wrong...? _Ayame wondered, beginning to feel a little doubtful._ If it was, then that means this fat guy has some insane superhuman strength... Was I... underestimating his strength...? Unless… Ryoma has been letting the serve take him like that all this time… Then…! That must be it…!

 _The game eventually elapsed into a tiebreak. Ayame finally felt confident about what she had predicted._

 _"Alright, this is where the fun starts," Ayame said, still in her lax position._

 _"Kanna, how can you relax at a time like this?!" Horio demanded._

 _"Ryoma-kun still hasn't been able to return the Big Bang!" Kachirou said in a worried tone._

 _"I don't see it as a problem," Ayame said calmly._

 _"How can you say that?!" Horio cried. "Echizen needs to return the Big Bang or else he won't win!"_

 _"Alright, alright, let's calm down and think this carefully," Ayame said, turning to the Freshman Trio, lowering her voice. "The reason why Ryoma hasn't won yet is because of the…?"_

 _"Big Bang," the Freshman Trio finished for her._

 _"What about the Big Bang that is preventing Ryoma from winning?"_

 _"He can't return it," Katsuo answered._

 _"... Yeeeeesssss, but why can't he return it?" Ayame thought she was going to throw her tennis bag at them._ Are they trying to test my patience or what?

 _"It's too powerful for him to return it," Kachirou answered._

 _"That's right. And what do you think would happen if you keep repeatedly hitting a powerful shot like that?"_

 _By now the score was 5-5. Ayame heard Higa cheering that the Big Bang's power hasn't even dropped yet, which caused Kite's eyes to widen in realization._

 _"Repeatedly hitting a powerful shot?" Horio repeated._

 _"It's not that hard… it's like what happens to your stamina when you run too fast for way too long." Ayame waved her hand as though to say "go on."_

 _"It weakens!" the Freshman Trio exclaimed in realization._

 _"Careful, Kei-kun!" Ayame heard Kite shout. "The power of Big Bang has already—!"_

 _At that moment, Ryoma returned the Big Bang and succeeded in landing a return ace._

 _"6-5. Echizen leads."_

 _A chant then exploded from Seigaku's side. "One more point! One more point! One more point!"_

 _"Kanna-san, you knew this was going to happen?" Kachirou asked._

 _"Well, yeah..." Ayame turned back to watch the match. "If you use too much power, it weakens over time. That's common knowledge."  
_

 _"Then, that's why you said there wasn't any problem with Echizen not being able to return it?" Horio asked._

 _"Yeah," Ayame answered. "This time since Big Bang was all the fat guy has, the outcome is inevitable assuming that Ryoma doesn't screw up."_

 _"You're amazing, Kanna-san!" Kachirou said excitedly._

Aren't you just overreacting a bit…? _Ayame sweat dropped._ This prediction was a no-brainer.

 _"You'd make a great data tennis player like Inui-senpai, Kanna-san," Katsuo said._

 _"Oh, no, I can't play data tennis!" Ayame cried. "I'm not able to take one look at a move and just figure it out instantly like Inui-senpai… well, depending on what move it is, that is… And I can't do precise measurements in one go either… more specifically, I just can't… It's just that Big Bang is simple and straightforward, so… yeah. Anyway, I'd rather stick with my ninja style of tennis more."_

 _Ryoma then smashed the ball, as Tanishi returned it before it landed. Ryoma leaped up higher, and Ayame noted that his stance almost looked as though he was hitting a Drive C. He then smashed the ball, and Tanishi reached the ball before it bounced, assuming the move to be Drive C. However, the ball had so much spin that it flew off his racket and slammed into his face._

 _"Okay, THAT'S more like how I envisioned COOL Drive to be," Ayame remarked._

 _"How did you know what COOL Drive would look like?" Horio asked._

 _"I studied spin a long time ago," Ayame replied. "So now I can guess what can happen to a ball if I know about the spin, though sometimes I can be a little off. To be honest, my envisioning of COOL Drive was a bit exaggerated now that I've seen what it really looked like. I only studied spin because of a bitter experience seven years ago involving reverse spin. That experience was the only time I ever panicked for real in tennis."_

 _"A bitter experience?" Kachirou and Katsuo repeated._

 _"That's a story for another time," Ayame said._

 _"That is the real COOL Drive," Ryoma said, looking down at Tanishi lying on the ground._

 _"Game and match, Seigaku's Echizen! 7-6!"_

 _"It's time to go and sigh, now that I owe him another serving of Ponta…" Ayame sighed._

 _"You owe Ryoma-kun Ponta?" Kachirou asked._

 _"It's a bet," Ayame answered. "If he wins, I have to buy him Ponta. If he loses, he has to buy me Ponta. It's been a one-sided competition so far, but on the bright side for him, it gives him some motivation for winning. Ponta is also great for bribing him whenever he refuses something, even if it means putting his health on the line because he's taking in so much sugar. But then again, he exercises a lot, so he's gonna be fine."_

* * *

" _So there you have it,_ " Ayame finished. " _I had to do a similar example so that they can realize that the Big Bang's power is dropping after all._ "

" _That's pretty clever of Ryoma,_ " Kevin remarked.

" _Although he was a bit reckless at some points when he tried to return the serve directly. Several times it knocked him off his feet, but I couldn't see clearly if it had hit him or not. All I know is that it looked like it hit him and he fell back… and he just got up like as if nothing happened to him. It was like he has a magnificent torso that cannot be harmed by such tennis serves._ "

" _So he didn't get hurt…?_ "

" _At this point for me, it's not a big surprise. While he was having fun in Japan without me, I heard he got himself a very bloody eye injury from his own racket and he acted like it was nothing. And when we were in Wimbledon, he got brutally smashed against some iron bars twice and he got smashed against the ground so hard that he left behind a pretty big crater._ "

" _Huh?! Was he alright?!_ "

Ayame shrugged. " _Tell me how he didn't break any bones or go blind or go deaf. An incomplete form of the move managed to make someone go blind and deaf. And with the way he hit the iron bars and the ground, he should've broken like maybe five bones or so. None of those happened to him, and I've no idea myself. But that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. When he got slammed into the ground, he looked like he was in pain when I went to see if he was alright. But considering that he didn't sustain anything bad, it could be that he secretly is a giant with a body of steel, poisonous fingers, and a third eye. Or maybe he's truly a God like his fellow club mates in his grade level believe. I dunno._ "

This was probably the most bizarre thing Kevin has heard about Ryoma. It was either Ayame was lying or telling the truth. However, it was clear that she is baffled about it, even if she "let her imagination run wild" as to how Ryoma was able to avoid getting such injuries.

Ayame then stood up. " _Well, I'm gonna go now. I need to ask Ryoma to do me a favor… Of course, assuming he's up by the time I get back._ "

* * *

Ayame opened the door and walked inside of the room. She immediately became dismayed when she saw that her best friend was still conked out in bed.

 _Oh, come on!_ she thought in exasperation. _Do you really have to drag it out like every day like this?_

She then went into the bathroom and hopped into the shower. When she came out, she found Ryoma sitting at the dining table, having breakfast. He was still not dressed, his hair still looked messier than usual, and he looked ready to drop dead over the table.

"Yo," Ayame greeted.

"… Mm…" Ryoma merely grumbled in response.

"Sleep well last night?"

Ryoma said nothing this time.

 _Not in the mood to talk, huh…_ Ayame thought. _Oh well. We'll have time for idle chit-chat after you lighten up a bit. At least you know I exist._

Ayame sat down in front of him and, to pass time, began reminiscing about the time she decided to improve her left-handed play…

* * *

 _"Kanna, I need to talk with you about something," Ryoma said._

 _"What is it?" Ayame asked, trying to push aside her feelings of awkwardness._

 _"Let's go find someplace else to talk about it."_

 _Ayame watched with a questioning look on her face as the little boy walked off, but otherwise followed him. It was the first time Ryoma asked her to go somewhere else to talk, as he never privately talked with her at all. They walked until they were underneath an orange tree in the Echizens' backyard, where the two young children sat down._

 _"Nii-chan told me this," Ryoma started. "He said that there's a difference with playing people who are left-handed and right-handed."_

 _"Yeah, I know about that," Ayame said in a rather bitter tone as she looked away._

 _Ryoma noticed her change in emotion. "What's wrong?"_

 _"I've had a bad experience with the difference between left and right hand…"_

 _"Really?"_

 _"Yeah… that's all. Go on." Ayame turned back to face Ryoma._ Does he really not remember?

 _"Nii-chan can't play left-handed, and Dad won't play left-handed with me. So… Can you play with me left-handed?"_

 _"Huh?! What makes you think I can play with my left hand?!" Ayame wasn't sure if Ryoma was suffering from short term memory loss or something, because she was very sure that he knows that she's right-handed._

 _She had tasted the difference of playing someone left-handed. Shortly after she became skilled enough to hold up a rally, Nanjiroh suddenly told her to rally with Ryoma. When her racket went in contact with the ball, she became bewildered when it felt different from when she rallied with Nanjiroh and Ryoga. Ryoma effortlessly returned her shots, while she struggled to return his. She went into a state of panic when she couldn't figure out the reason as to why the ball felt different. Since she was still a beginner at the time, she was unsure as to whether there was something wrong with her play or if Ryoma was just naturally a lot better than her._

 _After they were done, Nanjiroh noticed her panicked state and pulled her aside. He explained to her that a ball can feel different depending on which hand is used due to the reverse spin applied to the ball. Ayame had not been paying attention about who was playing with what hand at this point, so he had to remind her that he and Ryoga are right-handed. Since she had been playing only right-handed players up until now, she is unused to dealing with a left-handed player. It was then she finally noticed that Ryoma was left-handed, unlike his father and brother. The reason that Nanjiroh had her play with Ryoma so soon was so that she can start playing against left-handed players, as they were less common than right-handed players. Since then, to avoid panicking over change like that, Ayame begun observing the common habits of right and left-handed players._

 _It had seemed as though Ryoma hasn't been aware of the difference between playing against right and left-handed players. Ayame thought that this could be because his opponents are all right-handed. Since he never played against left-handed players at this point in time and the fact that nobody had told him about the difference between hands, he was left in the dark about it. That is, until Ryoga mentioned it to him. Ayame wasn't sure when that happened, though._

 _"You're a little bit left-handed, right?" Ryoma asked. "I saw you opening a water bottle with your left hand the other day."_

 _"That's…" Ayame tried to find the right words. "It's because I can't open it with my right hand…"_

 _"Kanna… you can hold things with any hand, right?" Ryoma looked serious about his question._

 _Ayame paused as she slowly reprocessed what she had heard. Ryoma was claiming she was ambidextrous. She had always believed she was purely right-handed, and apparently she was ambidextrous without knowing, according to him._

 _"Wait right here!" Ayame said as she got up._

 _She ran off and picked up her purple racket leaning against the wall next to the back door of Ryoma's home. She held it with her left hand with some difficulty, but otherwise had a firm grip on it. She then swung it in a forehand motion, albeit rather awkwardly. After swinging the racket a few more times, she then made her way back to the orange tree, where Ryoma was patiently waiting for her._

"Ayame."

 _"Ryoma, you're right…" she said. "But… I can't play left-handed."_

 _"That's okay, I can wait. You can practice it, right? When you're good at playing left-handed, can you play me with your left hand?"_

 _"Sure, I don't mind."_

 _"Alright!" Ryoma looked very happy now. "Thanks, Ayame!"_

 _Ayame nearly fell back in shock as she realized that Ryoma just called her by her given name. It wasn't that she didn't want him to, but it was so sudden. For one whole year, he kept calling her Kanna, and right when she was finally getting used to it, he suddenly changes his mind and goes with her given name. Either way, for her, she doesn't have to deal with feeling awkward about being called Kanna. Or at least, she hoped._

* * *

"… Ayame!"

"Huh?!" Ayame saw that Ryoma looked wide awake and was staring at her.

"… Were you listening to me?" Ryoma asked.

"O-oh…" Ayame started awkwardly. "Sorry… Did you say something?"

"I was asking what were you doing earlier."

"I… was out practicing."

"I thought you were playing in a match earlier."

"What makes you think that?"

"You don't have any other reason to shower this early."

"… You're right. I just had an… intense practice. But anyway, can't you do something about that bad habit of yours?"

"What bad habit?" Ryoma saw that Ayame is clearly annoyed about whatever habit she was talking about.

"Your bad habit of oversleeping." Ayame looked exasperated, as though she expected Ryoma to already know the answer.

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Y'know, break it."

"It's a habit. I can't."

"Just because it's a habit doesn't mean it's impossible! I mean, can't you for once actually try to break it?" Ayame attempted one last question to convince him. _I feel a headache coming…_

"… I'll think about it."

"Forget it. You won't even do it anyway. Whose turn was it to bring the laundry down again?"

"Yours."

"Alright. Since it's your turn to do the shopping, make sure you buy what I wrote on this list." Ayame handed Ryoma the said list.

Ryoma frowned when he read the list. "… Isn't that too many heavy things to carry around?"

"I'll pay you later. But just get it for me while you're at it."

"Why me?"

"Don't complain. You're a boy. I'm a girl. You'd have an easier time carrying all that stuff than me, so it gives me more of a reason to ask you to get them for me." There was a hint of scorn in Ayame's tone in her first three sentences.

This was one of the few times Ryoma has seen her express her feelings of her subtle inferiority complex. Since she is pursuing a sport, it was natural for her to have some feelings of inferiority toward males, although she has been doing a good job of hiding them. She never let those feelings get the better of her, as she was well aware about the fact that men are expected to be superior and that she was going to have to live with it. Despite that, those feelings would occasionally manifest themselves whenever the conversation goes to the topic of the difference between boys and girls. They were often expressed in the form of her reminding someone that she's a girl to show emphasis in her lack of or difference in strength, sometimes along with a scornful tone.

"… Can't you just buy them separately at a different time?" Ryoma asked.

"No, I've got something coming up, so I need all that real soon." A sly smirk began to show up on Ayame's face. "Unless you're telling me that you're too weak to carry all of that."

Ryoma glared at her. "… I don't agree with you."

"Then prove it. Prove to me that you're all strong and macho enough to carry all of it back here." Ayame had a slight tone of mockery in her voice.

"… You don't have to put it that way."

"Of course I do. It would take a lot of strength to take all of this back up here."

Ryoma sighed. Ayame was making him get a lot of stuff for her again. One of the problems he has with her is that she dumps the troublesome tasks on him. Or at least, she was waiting until there was a time where he has nothing to do, but there's nothing he could do about it. As an agreement to be staying together in the same room, they had to take turns doing certain chores. Well, he didn't remember the reason, and only she did.

When they first started staying together in America, Ayame had already begun doing the chores, as she was used to doing things like that. After a few days, she realized she was doing all the work while Ryoma was just sitting there and watching her. In an attempt to get him into doing some of her work, she accused him of being too lazy to be able to do any kind of work. Falling for her provocative accusation, he said that he could do chores too, and then they had the agreement to take turns doing certain chores.

Ayame would've bribed him by promising to buy him Spark drinks, as she knew that he was easily swayed when bribed with his favorite drinks. This time, though, she felt that it wasn't worth her pocket money for something long-term like this, even if it meant doing this the harder way. She was not fond of the idea of provoking, as half the time Ryoma was resistant to her taunts, making it all a waste of her breath. However, this time she decided to try it just this once, and it worked.

* * *

Ryoma came out of the store, lugging some heavy cardboard boxes. He had finally got what he and Ayame needed, and now he has to carry whatever she asked him to get for her. While struggling to not drop any boxes, he stopped at an intersection when someone called out to him.

" _Ryoma Echizen!_ " the voice called.

Ryoma looked over to see Kevin.

" _… Oh, it's you,_ " he said indifferently.

" _What are you carrying?_ " Kevin asked.

" _A lot of weights._ "

" _A lot of weights? What for?_ "

" _Ayame asked me to._ "

" _She made you carry all of that alone?!_ "

" _Yes._ "

" _Here, let me help._ "

" _Thanks._ " Ryoma handed Kevin some boxes.

The two boys went down the streets together.

" _I was with Ayame earlier this morning,_ " Kevin said. " _She was practicing with me._ "

" _… So that's why she was sweating when she came back…_ " Ryoma remarked. " _She's keeping herself out of trouble, right?_ "

" _Er… yeah, I guess…_ "

" _I'm only asking because sometimes she lies. The last time I asked her to stay out of trouble, she said she would, but I'm not sure if she is or isn't._ "

" _She doesn't look like the kind to get into trouble, though. Why did you ask in the first place?_ "

Ryoma looked away and spoke in a faintly remorseful tone. " _She… was hurt in a fight… and she was in the hospital because of that._ "

" _You mean when she got stabbed?_ "

" _You know about it?_ "

" _Yes. She told me supposedly a few hours after she was discharged._ "

" _Ah. Well, she's usually up before me and by the time I get up, she's already gone._ "

Although Ryoma tried his hardest to hide it, it was too clear to Kevin that he feared that Ayame would end up injured again. They were best friends after all, even though half the time they acted like the other was the most horrible person they've ever met. This was because Ryoma often got on Ayame's nerves with his arrogance and coldness, and she in turn occasionally treated him the same way he does to her. Despite the strained friendship, they would always look out for each other and help when the other needs it the most.

The two then walked in silence until Ryoma turned to a hotel and went inside.

" _So this is where you're staying?_ " Kevin asked.

" _… Why do you think I went here?_ " Ryoma asked.

 _I'm starting to see why Ayame gets so easily annoyed with him..._ Kevin thought.

They went to the room where Ryoma unlocked the door and they dropped the boxes.

" _The room looks surprisingly clean,_ " Kevin remarked.

" _Ayame did that,_ " Ryoma said. " _… She does it because she thinks she's better than the hotel's room service. She's used to cleaning her own house because she's usually home alone._ "

" _She's usually home alone?_ "

" _Her old man is constantly out working._ "

" _What about her mother?_ "

Ryoma turned away. " _Dead._ "

" _Huh?! Her mother's dead?!_ " Kevin wasn't sure how Ryoma was able to say that straight like that, though he didn't see Ryoma's sorrowful expression.

" _I don't know too much about it… All I know is that her mother died in an accident when she was four. She was caught up in the accident too, but she survived._ "

Ryoma didn't want to show that he was worried about Ayame when it came to the subject of Houko. Even though he didn't know her when Houko's death occurred, he knew that it affected her very badly. Her violent attitude erupted following the incident and a rift between her and Takeda formed. This led her to be feared by many as it was somewhat easy to tick her off and she became more isolated, making it difficult for her to make new friends, although she can communicate normally with other people. As much as he wanted to do something, there was nothing much Ryoma could do. All he could do was be there for her, since she was constantly alone, even if it meant having to go through her suffocating antics.

 _Was that why she was always hanging out with Ryoma when she was younger? Is it because her mother's gone and that she rarely ever saw her father?_ Kevin wondered.

Now that he found out that Ayame's mother was dead, Kevin wasn't sure how she felt to have only her father, especially since they hardly had any conversations that lasted over five minutes. He was starting to understand why she was very independent.

" _Ryoma,_ " Kevin started, changing the subject. " _Let's play some tennis._ "

" _Sure, I don't mind,_ " Ryoma replied, turning back around to face Kevin.

* * *

Ayame turned around the corner of the building to the tennis court. She was surprised to see Ryoma and Kevin on the other side, walking there. At the moment she saw them, she saw some kids in the tennis court being bullied by two teenagers. Before she can go around to the door and intervene, Kevin had beaten her to it. Nobody had noticed her standing in the sidelines watching as Kevin and Ryoma challenged the two teenagers. It became a doubles match. _  
_

 _Heh... this became interesting,_ Ayame thought. _Let's see how this unfolds._

Ayame stepped back out of sight and watched the game. Ryoma hit a Twist Serve, which hit the teenager in the face.

" _Hey, Ryoma, let me play too!_ " Kevin said.

" _Sure, you can have the next one,_ " Ryoma said in a bored tone.

Ryoma and Kevin easily overpowered the teenagers. Ayame thought this was a good chance to see if her doubles training with Ryoma paid off. However, she realized that it didn't when Ryoma darted in front of Kevin and stole the ball from him.

" _Ryoma, that was my ball!_ " Kevin complained.

 _Oh, geez…_ Ayame thought. _It's either he completely dismissed everything he learned or he forgot. For once, I can't tell which one it is._

Meanwhile, the teenagers had gotten very pissed at Kevin and Ryoma that they looked as though they were spouting flames.

" _Wh-what the…_ " Kevin said.

" _They're like out of a Marvel comic,_ " Ryoma remarked.

" _We're Rod and Rick, and we'll send both of you brats to hell!_ " the teenagers shouted simultaneously.

 _Those two would make a great pair if they actually spent time practicing than bullying…_ Ayame remarked. _I mean, they're in-sync and all, but they're lacking in the skill department. And if only if Ryoma could actually play doubles…_

In the following game, Ayame noticed that Ryoma did not forget the training they did, but rather, he was using it in a way she was not quite expecting. He used the Samurai Zone to gravitate the ball to him, away from Kevin.

" _Ryoma, that was my ball!_ " Kevin complained.

" _You're too slow,_ " Ryoma replied.

 _I don't even know whether I should laugh, cry, or do both at once,_ Ayame thought, feeling amused and dejected at the same time. _He's just using our training to steal the ball._

Kevin got irritated at Ryoma for taking his balls, but on the other hand, was curious as to how Ryoma is able to just make the ball… magically curve to him. It was like the time when Ayame had recently recovered from an injury and made him play against her. She had been using the same move when he wasn't attacking.

After the two middle school boys won and the teenagers fled, Kevin was immediately onto Ryoma.

" _What's with the ball curving towards you?_ " he asked. " _It looked like what Ayame once used against me. She made the ball come to her and she didn't have to move a step whenever she did it._ "

" _… Samurai Zone,_ " Ryoma simply answered. " _Although hers' is called Kunoichi Zone._ "

" _It's a very hard technique where you put some spin on the ball that'll allow it to return directly to you without having to move,_ " Ayame said, breaking into the conversation. " _They can be countered in two ways. One is to hit it with brute force, and the other is to nullify the spin. It's easier to counter Samurai Zone with spin, while Kunoichi Zone is easier to counter with power._ "

" _Ah, Ayame!_ " Ryoma said in recognition.

" _For the record, Ryoma, that training we did was so you could get good at doubles, not so you could face two opponents alone and be a show-off!_ " Ayame said in a rather annoyed tone.

" _Get good at doubles?_ " Kevin asked.

A big grin spread across Ayame's face. " _Yeah, this idiot was so bad that according to one of his teammates, he only won by dumb luck when he treated half the court like it was singles._ "

Ryoma glared at her, but said nothing. Ayame knew that it was a sign that she got him good, and she always felt good about herself whenever she did. Although she would feel a lot better if it was Ryoga rather than Ryoma. It was difficult to penetrate Ryoma's nerves of steel, and it was usually that he's the one who got her. In Ryoga's case, it's a different story. Ayame never saw him get angry at any taunts or rude remarks directed at him.

" _By the way, have you ever seen the real Ryoma yet?_ " Ayame asked.

" _What do you mean by that?_ " Kevin asked.

" _When he plays seriously and goes all-out completely,_ " Ayame answered. " _Even when I go all-out, it's still difficult to beat him when he plays like that._ "

" _No, I haven't seen the "real Ryoma" yet,_ " Kevin said, unsure of where Ayame was going.

When he last attempted to defeat Ryoma, it turned out that Ryoma was going easy on him. Ayame volunteered to be the referee of the match, so she witnessed it. Before playing, Ryoma boasted in Japanese to Ayame that he can defeat Kevin while going easy on him. Ryoma had restricted his stronger moves as well as Tenimuhou no Kiwami, and struggled somewhat against Kevin, but still emerged victorious. Afterward, Ayame had mocked Ryoma for not being able to win earlier against Kevin. Given that she had used his own moves against him many times before, he should've been able to counter them like as if it were his second nature.

" _Well, whenever he goes out like that, I have to do the same in order to play evenly against him,_ " Ayame said. " _If I don't give everything I've got, I'll lose._ "

Ryoma knew that she was lying. She has been hiding her dangerous move that can cause serious injuries, and he was the only person who knew about it. The move was capable of slicing open soda cans. Ayame is not playing tennis with the intention to do anything it takes to win, so she sealed it and only used it for certain situations, often dire ones. She has only used it twice when she was in Wimbledon, the first time occurring when she was attacked by the Clack at night, and the second time was to avenge the Clack's victims and get back at the person who ordered the attack on her. She had deemed that injuring people to the point where they can't play tennis was unacceptable, so she went to drastic measures.

There was one thing that had always bothered Ryoma about the incident in Wimbledon, though. He remembered getting the strings on his racket broken the first time when he tried to return a real tennis ball, but Ayame appeared to have returned it with no problems, despite her power being massively weaker than his. Now, this was contradictory to later on when she rallied with more real tennis balls. She was able to hold up a rally but he had noticed that she was struggling a bit against them. He wasn't sure if that display of great power during that first time was because she felt that they were both in danger or if there was something she was keeping from him. Whatever it was, she wouldn't tell him, and would always try to sway the subject away whenever it was brought up. It probably had something to do with the timeframe of after she returned the ball and before the gangsters left, because his memory at that point was blank.

" _Ryoma, wanna go at it?_ " Ayame asked.

" _Sure, but I won't lose,_ " Ryoma replied.

Kevin had never seen a match between Ayame and Ryoma. Ayame claimed that she and Ryoma were even, but Kevin wanted to see who would win in this match. Ayame admitted that her problem with facing off against Ryoma is that she can't stand up to his power, which is a typical problem for girls, but she worked her way around it by attempting to outclass Ryoma in terms of technique. Kevin wanted to see both of them in action to see how the match would turn out.

" _Oh, and we'll self-judge,_ " Ayame added in quickly, speaking to Kevin. " _Don't mind us on that._ "

Kevin wasn't sure as to why Ayame spoke quickly about self-judging the game. His question was soon answered when the two Japanese activated Tenimuhou no Kiwami and began rallying at a speed where he couldn't see the ball, pretty much eliminating the power and technique issue. Though he did not know exactly what the outcome is, due to them playing way too fast for him to see the match properly, according to the two, Ryoma won.

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma taunted.

"Yeah, yeah, Ryoma-sama, we know you're so good that it took you at least a hundred games to beat me…" Ayame said sarcastically, and then turned to Kevin. " _You're the first person to see an actual outcome from a match between me and Ryoma. You ought to be proud. But make sure you don't tell anyone, unless you want to be asked about it every two minutes._ "

 _So that's Ayame and Ryoma playing seriously…_ Kevin thought, still at a loss for words.

"By the way, Ryoma, did you get the weights?" Ayame asked.

"Yeah," Ryoma replied.

" _… What exactly was that thing you both used?_ " Kevin finally asked after he found the words he was looking for.

" _Oh, you mean the Pinnacle of Perfection?_ " Ayame asked. " _That's when we're both playing very seriously. Not many people get to use it._ "

" _How did you both get to use it?_ " Kevin asked.

Ayame shrugged her shoulders. " _Hmm… I wonder… I just went through a special bit of training… and this stupid idiot went through the bottom of Hell to achieve it. It was an unbelievable sight to see, since the Child of God couldn't touch him afterward and it was the first time I've seen it._ "

 _That's a very ominous way of putting it…_ Ryoma thought, feeling a chill go down his spine as he recalled the experience of falling into the grip of Yips.

Kevin thought that Ayame was being unusually cryptic. From what he knew about her, she would give away information (sometimes with a small price, such as swearing not to tell anyone), but this time, she's not telling how to use Tenimuhou no Kiwami.

 _She did say that she would support me, but she can't help me…_ Kevin recalled. _So is this one of the things she can't help me with? She and Ryoma probably trained hard to be able to use this… Pinnacle of Perfection. They really hate losing to each other, after all._

 _I hope you do realize that you should shift your focus away from crushing Ryoma every once in a while…_ Ayame thought. _This isn't something you can do when somebody tells you how… you have to experience it and learn for yourself._

Although Ayame managed to experience Tenimuhou no Kiwami after being told how to activate it, she was only able to do so because she found tennis to be fun. She wasn't playing to be the best in the world. Her drive to be a stronger player just came from the goal of defeating Ryoga, but other than that, she enjoyed tennis. Since she has already come so far in the sport, she decided to just follow through with it. It was her way of making money when she's in America with Ryoma, as the two would participate in tournaments every once in a while to earn winnings and support each other.

" _Ryoma, Ayame,_ " Kevin said. " _I'll be going now. I'm… I'm going to train harder. So one day I can surpass the both of you!_ "

 _Heh, so now he's interested in defeating me…_ Ayame thought in amusement. _And here I thought nobody would want to use me as their goal… Because I'm a girl._

Kevin then walked out of the courts as Ayame and Ryoma watched him go.

"Then, let's go back," Ryoma said.

"Okay," Ayame replied.

* * *

 **I threw in more inner monologue this time. It's like when you want to work on your latest chapter but not having the time to do so and you're constantly stumped with writer's block, and all you do is keep adding details. I'm not sure if you know the feeling.  
**


End file.
